


Finding the Avengers

by jdho2



Series: Finding the Avengers [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stephanie Plum - Janet Evanovich, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Not Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Compliant, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2015-03-20
Packaged: 2018-03-01 22:09:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 149,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2789465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdho2/pseuds/jdho2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens and how will Stephanie's life change when she gets brought in to help locate missing members of The Avengers team? This is a Steph/Steve story, and no Cupcakes or Babes will be hurt! Will feature a side of Darcy/Bucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Search Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The characters and things you recognize in this story don't belong to me. They belong to Marvel and Janet Evanovich. I'm pretty sure you'll recognize which is which. Mistakes belong to me.

Steph’s POV

 

It had been one hell of a day.  My name is Stephanie Plum, and I’m a Bond Enforcement Agent (BEA) for my cousin Vincent Plum at Plum Bail Bonds.  Basically it works like this, he bails people out of jail when they can’t afford to pay the fee themselves, and if they fail to appear in court, he sends me to bring them in.  In return for successfully capturing someone and bringing them to jail, I get a percent of the bond-- all money he would have forfeit without me.

 

Sometimes Vinnie feels like he needs lots of money, often because his wife is renovating the house again or he needs to buy her affections after another transgression.  When that’s the case, he writes way more bonds for people who are more likely to flee, and I wind up too busy to manage until he’s gotten enough money to feel comfortable again.  Other times, he’s feeling flush, and he hardly comes into the office, let alone writes bonds, and it becomes a bit of a famine for me.  Often quite literally.

 

Today, with my bank account getting dangerously close to being in the red and all my credit cards maxed out, I’d agreed to go after an FTA (what we call people guilty of failing to appear in court) who was beyond my means and skill set.  Usually I was cautious and refused those, having Vinnie send them to my friend, mentor, and once-or-twice-or-so-upon-a-time lover Ranger and his company Rangeman Securities, LLC.  I hadn’t been difficult to convince this time though for a couple reasons.  

 

First, as previously mentioned, I was broke.  And I wasn’t going to be able to afford food if I didn’t bring someone in.  That would mean I would have to go to my parents for handouts, which would require subjecting myself to my mother’s constant litany of criticism and “suggestions” of how to improve my life.  Those had only gotten more pointed when I’d declined to move to California with my former on-again-off-again boyfriend Joe Morelli, firmly planting him in the ex category.  

 

Second, I really wanted to catch this guy, Mario.  He was part of the late Benito Ramirez’s entourage before Ramirez had gone all crazy stalker who attempted to murder me only to be killed by another one of my crazy FTAs.  Anytime I’d come across Mario in my cases, he’d harass me and make it clear that he was thinking about taking up where Ramirez had left off.  The harassment had been steadily growing to the point where I was considering asking Ranger for help when his file came across Connie’s desk.  

 

She’d given me first rights of refusal on it, knowing that I badly needed the money, but also that it would be personally gratifying to bring him him.  Vinnie had goaded me when I hadn’t instantly taken the file, as though him calling me a chicken would actually convince me. I saw through his efforts anyway; he paid me a smaller percent of the fee than he would pay Rangeman if he had to call them in.

 

Regardless of the reasons why I decided to take the case, once I had, it was really very easy to find Mario.  And he really hadn’t wanted to be brought in, especially by me.  Through sheer force of will, I’d managed to take him down without bringing in backup.  Unfortunately, it was not without getting grazed by a bullet or two, dodging a knife, skinning my hands and knees, having ridiculous amounts of trash thrown at me, and getting covered in flour.  Again.  At least now I’d be able to eat and put a decent amount toward rent for the month.  I nibbled my lip as I parked the car.  I only had another week and a half to make rent and I wasn’t sure I was going to get there in time.

 

I opened my apartment door, pulling my gun and flipping off the safety when it wasn’t locked, and relaxing slightly when I saw Ranger with two strangers standing in my kitchen.  One of the strangers, who was dressed to the nines, was looking around appalled, and Ranger had his hands up before saying, “just me, Babe.  And I brought some friends who need your help with a job.”

 

“There’s nothing I can do that you can’t do better, Ranger.”  I replied, snarling at Spiffy Stranger when he looked me up and down and wrinkled his nose.  The second man, I decided to call him Unassuming Stranger, looked taken aback, but not quite as offensively so.

 

“That’s not true, and trust me, you’re the better choice for this job.”  He looked me over and grimaced, “should you be at the hospital?”

 

“Probably, but I’m not going to die if I don’t go, so I’m not going and you can’t make me.”

 

“Babe.”

 

Okay, he had a point, he definitely could make me, but we both knew it would not be in his best interest to do so.

 

“I’m going to get cleaned up.  Grab a seat if you’d like.  There’s…” I paused mentally going through the kitchen inventory or lack thereof “glasses in the cabinet and water in the faucet”.

 

“Babe, where’s Rex?”

 

I looked at Ranger with a quivering lower lip and he gave me probably one of the closest things I’d seen to a look of sympathy from him-- other than when Grandma Mazur had died a few months ago.  Not wanting to talk about it, I continued to my bedroom, shutting the door and stripping before climbing into the shower.  I winced as the hot water went over my wounds, but managed to keep from crying as that would probably result in Ranger joining me in the bathroom which I wasn’t really game for anymore.  Once I felt that I was suitably cleaned up, and the water was cooling too much to stay anyway, I dried off and got dressed before heading back out to the living room.  I was wearing a sports bra with a tank top over it and some loose, short gym shorts.

 

Ranger was standing by the couch with an open field kit next to him, and he pointed me to the couch and raised a brow.  I sighed but flopped down.  When Ranger gave me a once over that was strictly business and started gathering supplies, Unassuming Stranger stepped forward.

 

“My name is Bruce.  I don’t technically have formal medical training, but I have lots of training in related fields and I spent years acting as a doctor of sorts for the poor in Calcutta.  I’d like to help if you’ll let me.”

 

I looked over at Ranger and asked, “you trust him?”

 

When he nodded at me, I smiled at Bruce and said, “Hi, I’m Stephanie.  It’s nice to meet you.  If you’re sure you don’t mind, I’d appreciate it.   I’m sure Ranger has gloves and I assure you I’m disease free.”

 

He chuckled at that, and I wasn’t sure what was so funny, but he followed it up by nodding his head in gratitude.  He started out cleaning the more superficial wounds as Ranger asked, “Do I need to take care of someone, Babe?  Or make a body disappear?”

 

“No, I handled him.  Mario.  He’s already been dropped off with Trenton PD.  Bruce gently tugged my arm so that he had a better angle on the first graze wound, “bullet?” he asked calmly, though I could see a bit of anger in the tightening of his jaw and a flash of… was that green?... in his eyes.

 

I nodded and said with a slightly too cheery voice, “Turns out Mario did not want to go back to jail.  He took a little bit of… persuading.”

 

“Babe?”  The question was clear.

 

“Don’t worry, Ranger.  He’s alive and there were no witnesses to the persuading.  I’m pretty sure it would have been ruled self defense anyway.”  Asshole grabbed me from behind and told me he was going to rape me.  Both strangers tensed up and Ranger looked ready to kill, so I realized I’d accidentally said that last bit of information out loud.  Ranger pulled out his cell phone, and I cut him off, “leave it Ranger.  He’s back in jail.  I already told Vinnie not to bond him out again, even if he makes bail.  And he’s going to prison for a very long time.”

 

Ranger just held up a finger and growled into the phone, “if you bail that man out again, it will be the last thing you do.”  He slammed the phone shut and I was pretty sure that across town Vinnie had just peed his pants.

 

Bruce cleaned and bandaged my arm and the wound on my calf, but when I stuck my palms out he shoved them aside gently but firmly, suddenly much more concerned.  "Stephanie, you’ve got blood all over your shirt."

 

“Damn, I thought I’d avoided the knife.  Didn’t even feel it.”  I pulled off my shirt and all three men winced.  Once I looked down and caught sight of it, I did the same.  “I definitely feel it now, why’d you have to go and tell me about it?”  I pouted and Ranger just reached into the bag and pulled out some little bottles and a syringe.  

 

“She should really go to the hospital,” Bruce said.

 

“I’m really not going to.  But Ranger can stitch it up if you don’t want to.”

 

Bruce sighed and said, “I’ll do it.  I assume your tetanus shot is up to date.”  

 

“You know it! This is not my first rodeo and no where near the worst,” then looking over to Ranger I added, “the training has definitely helped though.”

 

“I wish you’d come work for me full time and let us train you more regularly.”

 

I shrugged.  Ranger and I had this debate every few weeks, but I was unwilling to do so for a few reasons.  The biggest being Ranger.  We’d had several sexual encounters since I’d known him, and a long history of flirtation, but when Joe had moved out of the picture for good, Ranger hadn’t moved in as I had expected.  We’d talked about it, and he wasn’t willing to be anything more than occasional fuck buddies when the mood struck him, and I wasn’t willing to accept those terms.  We both had reached a tentative truce over the matter, and our friendship/mentorship was doing well again, but I wasn’t willing to work for Ranger full time.  And I was calling him for favors and backup much less frequently, even though he still tried to tell me there was no price for anything he gave me and I didn’t need to stop.  He did still call me in for occasional jobs when he knew money was getting tight for me, and I’d been expecting that call a couple days ago at the earliest.  I figured that was the point of today’s visit.  

 

I let out a sigh of relief when I felt Bruce tie off the sutures and finish tending to the knife wound.  He gently cleaned and bandaged my palms and my knees, and at a gesture from Ranger, I did a slow spin so they could make sure I wasn’t bleeding anywhere else.  Once they were satisfied, I slid my shirt back on and flopped back onto the couch.  I thanked Bruce before looking over at Spiffy Stranger and raised a brow, “Hi, I’m Stephanie Plum.  Who are you and what do you want?”

 

“Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself because I figured it was obvious.  I’m Tony.  I need you to find some people for me.”

 

He slid a stack of pictures towards me and I glanced at the top one long enough to see what looked like a homeless man with shaggy dark hair.

 

“Look, I don’t know what Ranger told you.  Normally I like helping people, but I just can’t afford to right now.  I’ve got a couple small bond FTAs to pick up tomorrow then I’ve got to hope more come in who won’t beat me quite this badly otherwise I’m not going to make rent at the end of next week.  If you can wait, I’ll help you out after that, but I’ve got to take care of that first.”

 

Tony stared at me looking absolutely shocked and a bit put off as well; I guessed he wasn’t used to people saying no to him.  

 

“Babe, why didn’t you tell me.”

 

I rolled my eyes, “I don’t need your money, Ranger.”

 

Tony spoke up, “clearly, you do.”

 

I shrugged.  “Not yet.  Not really.  And I’m not taking it at any rate.  And the building super, Dillon, usually helps buy me a couple extra days.  Look, like I said.  I’d like to help any friend of Ranger’s, and if a big bond comes in and I make rent early, I can give you a call and let you know.  But if this is time sensitive, you’re going to have to find someone else.  I don’t understand why Ranger can’t help if it is that important.  I just can’t afford to right now.”

 

Tony was still staring at me with wide eyes when he said, “you seriously don’t recognize me?”

 

“Should I?  Ranger, I swear to God, if he’s a fugitive, I’m throwing you out right now. I don’t have the time or the energy for this mysterioso shit today.  I need a nap, then I need to go into the office to drop off my body receipt and see if Connie has any new files for me.”  

 

“I’m Tony Stark.  You know, Iron Man?  And I think you misunderstood.  I’m asking for your help, but with every intention of paying you.  This is not going to be entirely safe and it will take a significant amount of time.  We’ll make payments on this place for you while you’re gone, for as long as you want to keep it.  In addition, we’ll be providing you a fully furnished, fully stocked apartment and Stark Industries will pay you a competitive salary with benefits-- including hazard pay.  It can be a temporary contract until you’ve found these people, then we can discuss hiring you on to a permanent position if you want, or you can move back here if you don’t.  As I said, this apartment will be waiting for you, and you’ll have a nice nest egg saved up.”

 

I gaped at him for a little and then over at Ranger who nodded his head and gestured at the pictures in front of me.  I spread them out in front of me and gasped.  “I won’t have a job though, Vinnie won’t hold my job for me.  And furthermore, I don’t think I can do this, Mr. Stark.  You’ve come to the wrong place; I operate on luck and these people require skill.” I said hastily stacking them back up and trying to hand them back to Tony.  

 

“Ranger tells me he’ll ensure your job is waiting for you.  He also assures me that you can do this job, or at least have the best shot of anyone he knows, and that’s enough for me.  We need someone who we can hire on full time for an unknown length of time, and Ranger has his own company to run, so that’s not going to happen.”

 

“Even if I could, Steph, you’ll have better luck.  These people have the same type of training as I do; I believe it will take someone with more unconventional tactics to find them and successfully make contact without sending them on the offensive.”

 

“Ranger, if I’m not mistaken, well I don’t know who this first guy is, but that’s Captain America, the guy with wings who is some kind of new partner of his,” I nodded in acknowledgment when Tony supplied the name Falcon before continuing, “Hawkeye, and The Black Widow.  The Black Widow, Ranger.  If she goes on the offensive, or just doesn’t like that I’m trying to find her, she’ll kill me in about two seconds flat.”

 

“She’d kill you before you even knew to start counting if she wanted to,” said Bruce, “but I really don’t think she will.  I wouldn’t be here trying to help Tony convince you if I thought she’d kill you.  The guy you don’t recognize, you DON’T make contact with and you find him last, okay?  We will make contact once you’ve gathered everyone else for us.  He’s The Winter Soldier.”

 

“The guy that just tried to murder Captain America, Falcon, and Black Widow in DC.”

 

“There’s a little more to it than that, which we’ll explain once you agree and sign a ton of NDAs, but essentially, yes.  Oh, and I’m the one they call Hulk, by the way.”

 

I stared at him for a few beats.  “Cool.  Thank you both for, you know, saving the world and all, by the way.”

 

We sat there in silence for a little longer and I spread out the photos and stared at them in turn, though I’ll admit my eyes lingered just a little longer on Captain America.

 

“Why do you want to find them?  Are you going to hurt them?”

 

“No, we want to help them and bring them back to New York.  I’ve rebuilt my tower with space for everyone to live, and I need them to help with our Global Security Division, which you’ll be part of if you decide to stay on long term.  The world needs them, and I need you to help us make sure they know they have a safe space and backup if they need it.”

 

I stared into his eyes for a while longer, and looked over at Bruce as well.

 

“What do you think, Ranger?”

 

“I think it is important that you do everything you can to help them.  And I think getting away from Trenton for a bit will be good for you.”

 

I rolled that around in my mind for a bit. I hadn’t been happy for a while, that was for sure.  I knew there was nothing here for me relationship-wise with Ranger, and staying around him wouldn’t be great for me to convince myself to move on and try finding someone new.  Joe was gone, and I’d slowly become less close with Connie, Lula, and Mary Lou.  Since Grandma’s death, my relationship with my family was strained at best.  

 

My mother and sister both blamed me, and what they deemed my encouragement of Grandma Mazur’s unhealthy behaviors, for her death.  How it was my fault that she had a stroke, wasn’t clear to me, but any attempts to make them understand my point of view had resulted in shouting matches.  They generally focused on the fact that she had the stroke at a strip club in Atlantic City.  My father had gruffly told me it wasn’t my fault and they’d see reason once they got over their grief, then went back to being his silent self.

 

All in all, it did seem like a good time for a change.  Still though, “I’m willing to try, but I can’t promise you I’ll find them, Mr. Stark.”

 

“Seriously, call me Tony, and I understand that you can’t make any promises.  I’ve looked for months myself and been unsuccessful, which is why I’m begging you to try.  Just do your best, okay?”

 

“Alright then, let’s do this.  When do we leave?”

 

“How soon can you be ready?”

 

I walked into my bedroom and started throwing some things into a bag.  Ranger followed me and said quietly, “you don’t have to do this Steph.  It will be dangerous.  And there’s always searches you can run at Rangeman if you need a job.”

 

“I know, Ranger.  But it sounds really important.  Important to the world important, so I might as well try.  If anyone asks, not that I think they will, tell them I’m okay?”

 

“Of course, Babe.  And believe me, they’ll ask.  Leave your body receipt with me, and I’ll see that it gets deposited in your account.  Similarly, I’ve already arranged the rent payments with Tony and I’ll handle that with Dillon.  I’ve got a bag of gear for you in Tony’s car.  All legally registered to you with Tony’s help.  There’s also a panic button in there.  I won’t track you, but if you need me, call or push that and I or some of my men will get to you as fast as we can.  If it isn’t me, I’ll make sure they make it obvious I sent them.  Tony promised to add himself to its contact list.  And he has someone who is going to help you keep up on your training.”

 

I quickly finished packing and walked out to the living room, carting my two bags with me.  Tony tapped a button on his phone, and there was a brief knock on the door before it opened up showing a very friendly but tough looking man in a suit.

 

“Stephanie, Ranger, this is Happy Hogan.  He is head of security for Stark Industries, and sometimes he still drives me around for old times’ sake.  He’ll take those bags, if you’re ready to go.”

 

“It’s nice to meet you, Happy.   And please, you all can call me Steph.  Yep, I’m ready to go.  I don’t have much to take with me.”

 

I let Happy take my bag and then after a moment of realization that I wasn’t going to be back for I don’t know how long, I walked over to the cookie jar and took out what I now thought of as my back-up gun and its bullets.  With a glance at Ranger with both of us knowing the gun wasn’t registered to me, even if pretty much every cop in Trenton knew about it, I handed it over to him.  Then I picked up the cookie jar and cradled it to myself before giving him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek.

 

“Take care of yourself, Ranger.”

 

“Babe.”

 

That meant I better take care of myself too.

 

 


	2. A New Avenger?

_**Bruce’s POV** _

__

I didn’t quite know what to make of Steph.  Well, I guess it started with the fact that I didn’t quite know what to make of Ranger.  Tony knew Ranger from his time contracting for the US government when Tony was a weapons manufacturer and Ranger was something that both men had declined to specify.  And Tony swore that if you could get him on your side, Ranger was one of the few men you could absolutely trust to have helping you when you were in a pinch.  After months of Tony and JARVIS trying, and ultimately failing, to find the rest of the team after SHIELD’s fall, we officially considered ourselves to be in a pinch.

 

So, we’d gone to Ranger, and when he declined to help us himself, he told us he had the perfect person.  Over the next couple days, he’d told us stories about Stephanie and her, I suppose you could call them “tactics”.  That actually hadn’t taken very long, nor had the time he spent convincing Tony to give Stephanie the job instead of him.  What had taken a long time was for Tony and JARVIS to run an extensive background search into her, and then to set up an apartment and figure out how her employment should work.  Not to mention it seemed that she worked pretty exclusively with weapons that she didn’t really have all the paperwork for, counting on her pull with the local PD to keep her out of hot water with those.  Because that wouldn’t work for her once we left Trenton, Tony and his band of lawyers had to push through paperwork for her and secured a set of legal weapons for her.  In the end, he and Ranger had basically acquired an arsenal for her that she’d be able to carry virtually anywhere in the world with what amounted to her own License to Kill.  When everything was finally in order, we went back to Ranger’s office, and he took us to meet her.

 

Naturally, I assumed that he had told her about us, set up an appointment, and just generally completed all the common sense niceties that people did in these situations.  Seeing him break into her apartment when we arrived in about 5 seconds flat, quickly proved that was not the case.  As did the fact that, once we were inside, it became clear that she wasn’t home.  Tony was snooping around the small, barren apartment in disgust, but I looked at it with a little bit of understanding.  This was the apartment of someone who hadn’t really put down roots.  It didn’t matter that she’d been here for years, she hadn’t really done much to make it her home.  I would venture a guess that she wasn’t comfortable with some aspect of herself and her life, which was making her unwilling to do so.  Regardless of whether or not she truly thought of this apartment as a home rather than just a place to crash, it was her personal space and I felt uncomfortable being there without her permission or knowledge.  I was just about to suggest that we leave and set up an actual meeting when the door opened.

 

Considering that she’d come home to an unlocked apartment, and all the stories Ranger had told us, I couldn’t hold it against her that she had her gun drawn when she walked in.  Still, the Other Guy really didn’t like it.  He liked it even less though, when she put the gun away and we got a look at her.  Someone had beat the hell out of this woman, and it looked like it hurt.  

 

Once she was in the bathroom and we heard her get into the shower, Ranger sighed and left, coming back shortly with a field medic kit that he started setting up.

 

“Who is Rex?” I asked curiously.

 

“Her pet hamster.  She’s having a tough time right now, lost her grandmother who was about the only person in the world who really loved her for who she is a few months ago.  Her remaining family has basically disowned her at the moment.  Broke up with her on-off boyfriend several months ago, and I essentially turned down being in a relationship with her.  But through it all she had that damn hamster, lived longer than he should have by any rights.  Still, that is awful timing.”

 

“What happened to her?  She’s not looking all that skilled, Ranger,” queried Tony.

 

“She must be worse off financially than I thought right now; I’m guessing I’ll get the alert from my team today.  Looks like instead of asking for help, she decided to go after a skip that she shouldn’t have solo.  She’s got skills, but she’s smaller than most of the people she goes after.  She could use at least a week or two of more, concentrated training before you send her after anyone.  If you have anyone who can help, that is.”

 

“We do.  We’ll see that she gets it, and I imagine the others will help as she starts bringing them in.  If she manages as well as you think she will.”

  
“She will.  She gets seriously hurt or killed…”

 

“Yeah, yeah, you do the same to me,” Tony replied.

 

We stopped talking when the shower turned off, and waited patiently for Steph to join us.  When she insisted on being patched up in her apartment, I was all too happy to help.  I may not have been a fully trained doctor, but over my years on the run, I’d gotten plenty of experience.  It was like a second calling.  Science was still my first, but helping people who needed medical assistance allowed me to continually pay back my debt to society a little at a time.  And that was a concept I found soothing, even when the Other Guy wanted to roar at seeing the knife wound in her side.

 

I’d figured out pretty early on that Stephanie somehow had no idea who Tony was, so when I finished cleaning her up, I quickly pulled out my phone.  It took everything in me to keep from laughing when Steph asked if Tony was a fugitive, but I knew it would just set him off if I did.  Plus, it would ruin the video that I was live streaming to Pepper and having JARVIS record for posterity.  I did let a small chuckle escape me when Pepper texted back, “I like her” and I got a similar message from Happy a few minutes later.  JARVIS put up a message on my phone letting me know that he was creating multiple copies of the video and hiding them in various places, in hopes that some would survive if Tony ever found out about it.

 

While Tony was working on convincing Steph, I exchanged a few more messages with Pepper.

 

“She’s pretty.”

 

“Yes she is, but you know I’m not looking for anyone.  Ever.”

 

“I actually wasn’t thinking of you.  She looks… tenacious.”

 

I paused in thought for a few seconds before typing out my reply, “she definitely is.  You may be right about that… if she can locate him.”

 

“You doubt her?”

 

“If JARVIS couldn’t find any of them, I doubt anyone can until they’re ready to be found.”

 

“Hill wants to know who beat the hell out of her, and if there’s anything she needs to take care of on behalf of our newest employee.”

 

“Tony hasn’t gotten her to say, ‘yes’ yet, but tell Hill not to worry.  She took the guy to jail, so he shouldn’t be a problem.”

 

“Nice.”

 

“Oops.  She’s scared of Natasha, and I’m not sure I helped with that.”

 

“Bruce.”

 

“She doesn’t seem to be scared of The Other Guy though.”

 

“Now I really like her.”

 

“She can’t stop looking at the picture of Cap.”

 

“It’s a good picture.”

 

“Now she wants to make sure we aren’t going to hurt him if she finds him.”

 

“Awwww.  I hope she finds Natasha first.  Natasha will help us with this.”

 

“Pepper, we don’t know what kind of shape Steve is going to be in, especially emotionally even if we do find him.  And Steph may not stay.”

 

“She’ll stay.  As long as she signs on to start, she’ll stay.  $100 bucks on it.”

 

“I’m not betting with you anymore!  Why do you think so though?”

 

“She looks tenacious.”

 

“We got her, she’s in!”

 

“I’ll set up a dinner.”

 

“From the looks of her apartment and its bare cupboards, and her for that matter, I’d say she could use a good meal.”

  
  


_**Tony’s POV** _

 

I don’t know why I was so relieved when Steph agreed to join us, but I was.  It was as though something inside me realized this was the first step to putting our team back together again, possibly stronger than ever.  As soon as I’d seen the inside of Stephanie’s apartment, especially the lack of food, I’d texted Happy to have him make some changes to the terms of the contract he was finishing getting printed for her to sign.  If she was willing to take a chance on us, I was willing to take a chance on her. Plus, it isn’t like the money would wind up making a difference to me in the grand scheme of things.  

 

As we walked into the elevator behind Happy, Bruce spoke first, “you keep your gun in a cookie jar?”

 

“Hey, if it was good enough for Rockford…”

 

I let out a surprised chuckle at that and happily held the front door open for her when we entered the lobby.  Actually, that contract was going to need more changes.  When we settled in to the limo, Happy handed back a stack of papers to Stephanie.  In it were the draft of her employment contract that I was going to need to change, the aforementioned and requisite giant stack of NDAs, and some additional Stark Industries HR forms.  While she studied the forms, I studied her.

 

This woman hadn’t recognized me when she saw me, though she had at least known who I was once I completely introduced myself.  That made me think she was somewhat up on current events, but not too much, and probably didn’t pay too much attention to celebrity gossip rags and the like.  What was throwing me about her was the fact that she seemed… nice.  Just genuinely nice.  I’m pretty sure that if she hadn’t been having a rough month financially, and what I needed of her wasn’t so long and involved, she would have offered to help me find my team for free.  It wasn’t often that someone offered to help me for free.  In fact, she’d said she would if she could find a way to make rent.

 

I’d never been poor, and the idea made me uncomfortable.  But this woman, somehow, seemed okay with her situation.  Or at least matter-of-fact about it.  Ranger had made no attempt to hide from Bruce and I the fact that he and Stephanie had, at one point, a sexual relationship that she had called off because he wasn’t willing to commit to her emotionally.  In her situation, many people probably would have agreed, if for no other reason than to mooch money, food, a nicer apartment, whatever off the guy.  But Stephanie hadn’t.  

 

And, what I found even more impressive, was her appearance when she’d walked into the apartment.  Regardless of the fact that she’s a woman, she must have balls of steel.  Seriously.  She’d had garbage thrown at her, and been beat up, shot, and stabbed, but she’d still managed to grab the guy and drag him to jail.  Ranger has warned us that the one down side of hiring her for the job would be the fact that she was a trouble magnet, but I hadn’t believed him until I’d set my eyes on her.  

 

When she’d finally looked at the pictures of the people I’d wanted her to find, she’d recognized them, and asked what I was going to do to them, which again solidified the fact that she wasn’t completely unaware, just ambivalent to celebrity.  And that she was a caring person, despite her profession.  I don’t think I’d ever met anyone in a similar profession who cared about the people she was sent to track after merely looking at their pictures.  Well, and knowing that they’d saved the world, in Natasha and Cap’s case twice, and at least a little bit about what they’d gone through.  She didn’t strike me though as someone who would have read through all of SHIELD’s leaked files.  Sure, most of Rangeman probably had, but I had a feeling Steph wouldn’t have.  Which kind of made me like her more, for some odd reason, even though I always wanted to know as much as I could.

 

“Sign all the NDAs, first, Steph.  Then you can read through the general HR files and whatever else is in there, but our CEO has to cross-sign your contract and I know we’re going to want to make some additional adjustments to it, so get familiar with the language, but don’t bother to sign.  We can talk through all the changes as we make them though.”

 

She just hummed her agreement and continued to read, so I took out my phone and texted Pepper.

 

“I like her.”

 

“Me too.”

 

“Wait, what?  How could you know that yet?”

 

“Bruce sent me some information and a picture.  I like her.”

 

“I want to pay her more.  And make sure that she’s set for a while if she doesn’t stay with us.”

 

“I think she’ll stay.”

 

“Why do you think that?”

 

“I keep telling Bruce-- she looks tenacious.  She’ll like the job.”

 

“I think you’re probably right.”

 

“What are you thinking-- bonuses for each person she finds?”

 

“Yes, and a higher hazard pay rate.”

 

“Okay, I’ll put HR on that.  Anything else you can think of?”  
  


“I want her on the Avengers floors, not one of the general apartments.  We have extra rooms for if additional people join the team.  Consider her on the team.”

 

“Okay.  How about a living expense stipend?  A signing bonus?  And another if she signs on permanently after the trial period?”

 

“I love it.  I knew I kept you around for a reason.”

 

“There are oh so many reasons you need me, Tony.  I just need to remember why I need you…”

 

“You love me.”

 

“That’s true.”  I could almost see her smile in my mind when I read that text before turning my attention back to my travel companions.  

 

“Pepper?” Bruce asked.

 

“You know it!”

 

“What are you putting pepper on?” asked, Steph, clearly confused.

 

“Pepper.  It is a name.  The name of my fiancee, in fact.  Pepper Potts.  She’s also the CEO of Stark Industries.  She and I were just working out some details of your contract.  After actually talking to you, I wanted to fill in a few more of the terms a bit more, and make some adjustments.  Like I said, we’ll discuss them together before you sign.”

 

“Sounds good.  I just finished reading these NDAs and I’ve signed them.  Just working my way through all the HR forms.  Did you know there is an entire form here just about you and what to do in the event I feel you have sexually harassed me?”

 

“Yep.  The number of those cases have gone way down since I got involved with Pepper though!”

 

She snorted and rolled her eyes at me; something told me Stephanie Plum would take none of my shit.  That was probably for the best.  I looked over and saw Bruce wearing an approving smile as he studied her, and I wordlessly caught his eye and cocked my head to the side questioning him.  He gave me a brief shake of his head indicating he wasn’t interested in her romantically.  Then I watched on, holding back a laugh as he started pantomiming to me.  It looked like he was… putting on a hat?  My confusion must have shown on my face because he looked at me in exasperation then changed tactics.  He looked like he was doing the pledge of allegiance then saluting a flag.  What?  Oohhhhhh.  

 

I nodded enthusiastically as I shouted, “Cap!” making Bruce look like he wanted to smack me and my lack of stealth.  I winced, but when Steph asked what I was talking about, I thought I recovered quite smoothly when I said, “make sure you cap the pen when you’re not using it!  Seriously, that’s one of my favorite pens.”

 

“Oh, sorry,” she responded, looking a little hurt and dejected by my sudden harshness.  It made me feel a little like I’d kicked a puppy because she’d clearly had a bad day, and had all this insanity thrown at her, but she’d still managed to be completely friendly to us.

 

“Sorry, it is just an important pen.  It was a gift.  From a king.  Before he died!”

 

The look Bruce was giving me was clearly screaming, “what the heck are you doing man,” but it seemed to have the desired effect on Steph as she relaxed a little though she immediately capped the pen and looked at it apprehensively.

 

Shooting me a look of disgust, Bruce reached into his pocket and pulled out a plain Bic pen and handed it out to Steph.  

 

“Here you go, why don’t you give that treasure back to Tony and use a pen you don’t have to worry about.”

 

She smiled at him gratefully and took the pen before handing the first one back to me.  I pulled my phone back out and texted Bruce, “you know, you could have just sent me a message this way. It would have been easier.”

 

“You don’t think this makes it obvious we’re talking about her?”

 

“No. She’s distracted by the paperwork.”

 

“What did Pepper have to say?”

 

“Based on some picture you sent her and whatever else you told her, she likes Steph. Then we were working out how to sneak more money into her temporary contract.  And her primary contract if she signs on full time at the end of this.  We’ll negotiate that more later though.”

 

“Good.”

 

“Do you think she would have helped us for free?”

 

“If she had enough money for rent, yes.”

 

“I like her too.”

 

“Me as well.”

 

“I’m going to move her into the Avengers’ living space.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, I want her on the support staff if we manage to convince her to stay on, so it makes sense.”

 

“Works for me.  I think Pepper’s gathering everyone who is in town for dinner”  He looked pointedly at Steph who definitely looked a decent amount skinnier than her frame was intended for and then sent me a follow up text, “I told Pepper she could use a good meal.”

 

At that point, Steph had signed the last of the papers and appeared to have read through her contract.  She had been chewing her lip as she looked through the contract and I would have bet anyone money that she thought we were going to be paying her too much but didn’t say anything because she figured we were going to offer her less once we had her final contract.

 

“Be prepared with arguments for why her salary is so high.  I think she’s going to push for less,” I quickly fired off to Pepper.

 

When I looked up, I noticed Steph studying me, so I quickly said, “Pepper is arranging dinner at which you can meet some of the other tower residents.  Any requests?”

 

“I’m sure anything will be fine.”

 

“What about dessert?  Do you like dessert?”

  
“Do you not?  I mean, who doesn’t like dessert?”


	3. The Tower

_**Steph’s POV** _

 

The ride to Manhattan from Trenton could have gotten awkward really fast once I’d stopped having things to read, but it actually didn’t.  It started with Tony’s, “so… blue dye pack?” which got an answering “I’m going to kill Ranger!” and some laughs from the guys.  So I told them about Carl the monkey, and my other crazy cases, which served as a pretty good ice breaker.  

 

Once we all seemed more comfortable with each other, I decided to go for it.  “Alright, I signed your paperwork, tell me what’s going on.”

 

“As you probably know, we fought with Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye as The Avengers in what is now called The Battle of New York,” Tony started, waiting for my nod that did know this before continuing.  “After the Battle, Bruce stuck around to live in my Tower and work in the science division after everything was rebuilt.  I made that invitation open to everyone, and Thor took me up on it as long as I provided living space and jobs for his girlfriend Dr. Foster and her assistant, Darcy Lewis as well.  I had no problem with this because Dr. Foster’s science is all space-rippingly awesome.  Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye showed interest in the arrangement, but were pretty well and under SHIELD’s thumb.”

 

“And SHIELD, which I recognize from the news, was kind of like the MIB, but with more evil Nazis infiltrated in it, right?” I asked.

 

“And more espionage, but sure.”  I nodded for him to continue, and he did, “We were working on ways to get them out of their SHIELD contracts without having to worry about retaliation and transferring The Avengers over to an independent organization when everything that happened in D.C. happened.  Now we want to find them, including the new kid, and bring them back to New York.  Or at least let them know that we have space for them.”

 

“Yeah, I’m going to need a little more than ‘everything that happened in D.C. happened,’ and I want to know what your plans are for that Winter Soldier.”

 

“Unfortunately, we don’t even know what really happened in D.C.  We know that the director of SHIELD, Nick Fury was shot and allegedly killed.  Though the last person SHIELD told me was dead actually wasn’t, so I’m not so sure.”

 

“Would have been a really good time to be playing dead.”

 

“Exactly.  We know that HYDRA, or those you referred to as ‘evil Nazis’ had infiltrated VERY high up in SHIELD.  Like all the way to the man above Fury, and as a result, they were able to attack and lead a manhunt against Captain America.  From what we’ve been able to tell, Natasha and this new guy Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, were able to help Steve foil HYDRA’s plans and essentially burn SHIELD to the ground after deeming it too corrupt to stay.  A judgment I, personally, have no issue with.  You’ll meet Maria Hill tonight.  She’s the former Deputy Director of SHIELD and had her hand in this as well, but she has to play things very close to the vest right now in order to avoid jail, so don’t expect to get much information from her.”

 

“Okay, I follow all of that.  Now.  Winter Soldier.”

 

“That’s the really sticky bit.  Until recently, everyone believed the Winter Soldier to be more urban myth than reality, but it turns out he was a HYDRA assassin.  Unfortunately, it also seems that he is the brainwashed former best friend of Captain America.  He was captured by HYDRA during WWII, and Cap rescued him.  Apparently they’d been experimenting on him with some version of the serum or something similar.  He fell from a train over a cliff during a mission and was assumed dead, but somehow actually survived and became a prisoner of war forced to do HYDRA’s will while being brought in and out of cryofreeze for decades.  Captain America and Falcon are trying to track him down and bring him back with the hopes of restoring his memories and un-brainwashing him.”

 

“Cryofreeze is a working thing?”

 

“Really?  That’s the part you’re stuck on?”

 

“Yeah, though I suppose it is like Captain America being frozen on ice for 70 years, huh?”

 

“Pretty much.”

 

“Okay, thanks for the information.  And where does Hawkeye fit into this?”

 

“He’s just MIA.  No one knows where he is, though we’re fairly certain he wasn’t involved in what went down in DC.  But goodness knows he would have been there helping Natasha if he was aware of the situation.”

 

“Which leads us to believe he is in deep cover somewhere,” Bruce cut in, “which could be a VERY dangerous situation for him now since his backup, and likely his handler as well, are now gone.  We’re not going to tell you how to do your job, but--”

 

I cut him off saying, “he is quite possibly actively in danger, so you’d recommend I go for him first.”

 

“Exactly,” said Tony with a smile, “plus, he can probably help you find the others, especially Natasha.”

 

“Are they…” I trailed off, mostly out of amusement for the look of exasperation on Tony’s face.

 

“Who the hell knows?!” he cried, throwing his hands up.  So clearly he’d tried to find out, and was frustrated at being unsuccessful. “All the pictures I recovered of her in DC have her wearing an arrow necklace though, so, maybe?”

 

We were pulling up to a tall building that could only be called ostentatious, and Tony’s eyes lit up with glee, “Welcome to Avengers Tower!  Home of The Avengers, I hope, and your new home for as long as you’re working with us.”

 

“My apartment is in this building?  In the middle of Manhattan?”

 

“Yep!”

 

“I’m certain I can’t afford this.”

 

“Well, I’m certain you couldn’t really afford anything until now, but it is included in your benefits package, remember? I’m also certain that when leads come in the middle of the night, you’ll be glad you don’t have to travel in from who knows where.”

 

Waiting right next to the parking spot when the limo pulled up was a rail-thin, gorgeous woman with strawberry blonde hair.  Tony got out first and gave her a kiss, barely leaving enough space in the doorway for Bruce and I to squeeze out past them without brushing against them.

 

When they pulled apart, I teased Tony, “If that was you staking your claim, Tony, I assure you it was unnecessary.  I’m not into other women.  No offense.  You must be Ms. Potts, is that correct?”

 

“None taken and yes, but please, call me Pepper.  And you must be Ms. Plum.”

 

“You can call be Stephanie, or Steph for that matter.”

 

Somehow without even giving us direction, Pepper had us all walking with her and we were stepping onto an elevator as she said, “Bruce, if you don’t mind, we’re just going to take Stephanie to my office and finish up the paperwork before heading up for dinner.  Would you mind telling the others we’ll be there shortly?”

 

“Not a problem, Pepper.  I’ll see you soon, Steph.  It was a pleasure meeting you.”

 

“You too, and thanks for the, uh, aid.”  I said, holding my bandaged hand up awkwardly as I followed Pepper and Tony off the elevator when it stopped.  

 

As I followed them, my eyes were drawn to Pepper’s feet and the heels that were clacking against the tile.  Those were some to die for shoes.

 

“Thank you.  Do I sense a fellow shoe fan?”

 

“Did I say that out loud?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Damn.  I do that way too often without meaning to.”  At the worried look Pepper shot Tony, I added a hasty, “never with secrets, usually just with observations.  Often embarrassing ones.  But yes, I am definitely a shoe person.”

 

“Alright, well, have a seat, and take a look.  This is your final short-term contract.”

 

I started reading through when I frowned, “this way too much.”

 

“Nonsense.  Stark Industries recruits the best, and we pay accordingly.  You’ll notice that we’re also asking you to go ahead and start working for us tomorrow, rather than giving you the standard time off for a relocation, so your relocation and signing bonuses have been adjusted to compensate you for that.”

 

“Yeah, but you’re also giving me a fully furnished apartment, so it isn’t like I’d need the time anyway.”

 

“Fully-stocked, yes.  And we usually give people a week or more if we can spare it just to adjust to their new home and get to know the area, so you really are getting the short end of the stick.”

 

“This can’t be right.  It says that I’ll receive combat pay in addition to my regular pay while I’m on missions.  Shouldn’t that be in lieu of?  And isn’t this too high either way?”

 

“Nope!” Tony said happily.

 

“Are these bonuses?”

 

“For each Avenger you find, yes.  And extra if you convince them to come back,” replied  Pepper calmly.

 

“Is there anything I’m going to be able to say that will convince you to pay me less?”

 

“Nope!” this time it was Pepper who sounded way too happy considering she was giving away tons of money when she chimed in with that.

 

I blew out a breath and signed everywhere indicated, which caused Pepper to clap in delight as she quickly made a copy and handed that to me.  I shoved it in my purse, and then said, “well. thanks!”

 

“Okay, well, family dinner time,” said Pepper.

 

“Sure, no problem.  Just show me where my apartment is and where I should be tomorrow, and I’ll get out of your hair.”

 

“Not so fast, Kiddo.” Tony said, and when I raised my brow at that, he said, “alright, I suppose that nickname won’t work.”

 

“Steph is fine, seriously Tony.”

 

“Well, Steph, I’m much more into nicknames but you’ll figure that out soon enough.  Anyway, with all those forms you signed and the fact that you’re willing to put yourself at risk for The Avengers, you’re part of the family now!  So, if I have to go to family dinner, then so do you.  Which means it is time to go up to the Avengers’ level!  Then we’ll show you your suite.”

 

“Oh, okay, well, thanks.”

 

Reaching onto her desk as she stood up, Pepper grabbed an ID badge and handed it to me, “This is your official Stark Industries ID badge.  You should wear it when you’re on any of the Corporate, non-Avengers floors, though JARVIS should have scanned all of your biometric data by now.  Those will get you around the Avengers floor, and the whole building, the human security guards just prefer badges still for some reason.  So wearing this will keep them from making an embarrassment of themselves by hassling an Avengers team member.”

 

“I saw JARVIS mentioned in the paperwork I signed, and Tony mentioned him earlier, but who exactly is JARVIS?”

 

“I am, Ms. Plum.” a voice came out of the ceiling in the elevator.

 

I looked at Pepper wearily and Tony clarified, “he’s my AI.  Stands for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, and he runs the building, among other things.  For the time being, you can consider him to be your partner.  His research capabilities are going to knock your socks off compared to the systems you’ve been using at Rangeman.”

 

Before I could comment more, the elevator doors opened and a handful of people stood waiting for us.  

 

“What the hell happened to you?!” Blurted out a woman who looked a little shorter than me with wavy, dark brunette hair.

 

“uh, hi.  I’m Stephanie Plum.  Until, oh, about 10 minutes ago, I was a Bounty Hunter, now I’m a…” I trailed off pulling my paperwork out of my bag.  “Badass Location and Security Consultant?”

 

Pepper shrugged and smiled, “Tony insisted and since it is a temporary contract, I decided it wasn’t worth fighting him over.”

 

“I like it.  Anyway, I had a skip-- a criminal who didn’t show up for court, to bring in to jail this morning.  He had a gun, and a knife, and he didn’t want to go to jail.  Oh, and he really didn’t like me in the first place.  Honestly though, you should see him!”

 

A copy of this morning’s booking picture popped up on the screen next to me, and everyone winced then turned to eye me.

 

“Well, he shot me!”

 

“And stabbed you,” added Bruce.

 

“And threw trash on you,” said Tony, shuddering at the memory.

 

“Did you have help?” Asked the tall, skinny brunette who had been quietly observing.

 

“Nope.  Got him in all by myself.”

 

“Satisfactory-- for an untrained civilian.  I’m Maria Hill, Director of Stark Industries’ Global Security division.  We start your training at 5 am tomorrow morning, and I’m going to make sure it takes more than one guy to make you look like this again.”

 

“Thanks?  I think.”  I’d prefer if she made it so that not even a group of guys could make me feel like this again, but that was probably asking too much.

 

I could almost see a ghost of a smile on her face as she said, “eventually, I’m sure I can.  But I like to set realistic goals and expectations, so that’s what I chose for the next week or two.  You’re going to hate me.”

 

“Probably only in the gym or wherever else we’re training.  You seem pretty alright otherwise.”

 

“Just don’t forget she’s one of those spies who is so good and in so deep that even her secrets have secrets,” sassed Tony.  There was really no other word for it.

 

From the look on Maria’s face, I’d say she’d heard that one before and was completely okay with it.  Probably because it was true.  Bruce stepped forward then, and gestured to the remaining two people in the room, “This is Dr. Foster, and her lab assistant, Darcy Lewis.”

 

Dr. Foster responded, “please, call me Jane,” at the same time Darcy said, “hey, I assist all you crazy scientists!  Not just Jane; she was just my first ward.”

 

Bruce gave Darcy a clearly amused, fond look that an older brother would give his sister and everyone else chuckled.  Darcy’s attention swung back to me, “so, this guy shot you, stabbed you, and threw trash on you.”

 

“Among other things.”

 

“What did you do to him?”

 

“Everything.  Except tase him.  My stupid taser was out of batteries.”

 

“Ugh, I feel you there.  I hate when that happens.  Why don’t they make taser batteries bigger?  Or you know, limitless,” she said pointedly with her gaze fixed on Tony.

 

“For the last time, Lewis, I’m not making you a custom taser.  Not until you promise to never use it on me!” Tony replied emphatically.

 

“I can’t make that promise,” Darcy fired back.

 

“Then I can’t make that taser,” responded Tony.  

 

My eyes were moving between the two as they played their verbal tennis match when Pepper cut in, “alright, that’s enough.  Let’s not scare Steph off on her first day.  Plus, dinner is ready!”

 

At that, the group enthusiastically turned and walked off, so I followed them into what was almost certainly the largest kitchen I’d ever seen.  I took in the amount of food covering every surface in it, complete with a table dedicated to dessert, and said, “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

 

“Hopefully not, since that would mean we were all in heaven as well,” muttered Jane.  

 

I smiled at her, fairly certain she hadn’t meant to say that out loud, and I could definitely relate.  “I just meant this food looks great.  Especially dessert,” turning to Pepper and Tony I said, “it’s already way more awesome here than at Rangeman.  Ranger only stocks twigs and bark to eat.”

 

When Tony simply shuttered in reply and Pepper smiled politely, I added, “seriously though, there’s no way we can eat all of this.”

 

“Well, we never really know when-” Tony was cut off by a loud clap of thunder and Jane’s squeal of delight before she ran out to the balcony onto a stream of bright, rainbow light.  When the light cleared, Jane was standing there making out with an absolutely gorgeous, hugely muscular blonde man.  “Thor will arrive.” Tony continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted.

 

Darcy added, “and he seems to have a knack for showing up at meal time.  And trust me, after a couple years of trying to feed him myself when he visited Jane, that man puts away even more food than he looks like he can.”

 

Geeze.  Where do I sign up for the hunky blonde super hero wait list, I wondered to myself.  Or rather, I’d thought it was to myself, but Bruce choked a little, Pepper looked delighted, Tony scoffed as though personally affronted, and Maria just looked at me assessingly.  Darcy looked furious for a second before smiling like the Cheshire Cat.  I just blushed and looked down at my toes before going to fix myself a plate and wishing I could drown myself in the bowl of gravy that was sitting on the table.  It was completely silent behind me, and I felt their gazes on me.  Finally I turned around and sighed, “I’m sorry.  I meant no offense.  It just slipped out; he’s hot, but he’s clearly taken and I don’t do cheating. I’ve had it done to me enough for one lifetime, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else or enable it in any way.”

 

Everyone seemed to still be studying me and I fidgeted a little under their scrutiny until Pepper said, “so honesty must be pretty important to you, huh?”

 

“God, yes.”

 

That resulted in more looks being exchanged around me, and I resolved myself to the fact that I’d aligned myself with another group who seemed able to communicate via ESP.  Thankfully I was saved from the awkward moment dragging on any further by Thor entering the room with Jane tucked into his side.  He let go of her in order to go around and greet each person, which seemed to, in his case, involve lots of almost painfully tight looking hugs.  

 

Finally he stopped in front of me and I set my plate to the side as he smiled genuinely and enthusiastically, “Heimdall has told me about your arrival at the Tower, so I wanted to come and make your acquaintance.  My Lady Jane has informed me that you are going to search for my fellow warriors here on Midgard.  From your look, it appears you may be a shield-maiden as well.”

 

I stared at him for a moment, not really sure who Heimdall or what a shield-maiden was.  I genuinely had no idea how to respond.  Eventually Thor continued, “you appear to have been in battle recently, have you not?”

 

“In a manner of thinking, sure.” I said while the rest of the group answered him in the affirmative.  That shook me out of my confused stupor long enough to reach my hand out and say, “Stephanie Plum, you can call me Steph.  It is an honor to meet you.”

 

Much to my surprise, Thor took my proffered hand and, after grasping it, pulled me into his embrace.  “The honor is mine, Lady Stephanie.”

 

“Seriously just Stephanie, please.”

 

Thor frowned a little at this, but appeared to acquiesce.  We all fixed our plates and ate our fill while filling the time with friendly conversation.  It seemed everyone had questions for me, but that made sense as I was new.  What was probably at least an hour flew by before Thor was saying to Tony, “I was unaware that so many of our party were missing, Friend.  Although he is busy, Heimdall has offered to assist La-- Stephanie in her search when he is able.”

 

Seeing the confusion on my face, Jane added, “Heimdall is the gatekeeper of Asgard, which is the realm Thor is from; he is all-seeing, so although it may take him a while to find them, he will probably be able to help you locate the rest of the team.”

 

“All seeing?”

 

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t spend his time being a creeper though!” Darcy rushed to assure me, and I’ll admit, it really didn’t do much to help.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so begins the week of Christmas updates! That's right, one a day, all week long!


	4. Hawkeye

_**Darcy's POV** _

My first thought when I saw Stephanie was, "ouch" and it was tinged in my mind with a little bit of doubt in her ability to perform the job that it seemed Tony had hired her for. Of course, when JARVIS put the picture of the guy she'd been going after, and she'd mentioned the taser, that quickly changed to, "yes, I am so going to be besties with this girl. Seriously my kind of chick."

When she made the crack about blonde superhero boyfriends, my first instinct was to take away the status she didn't even know she had yet in Jane's defense. Of course, then I realized that wasn't what she meant, she meant she wanted her own blonde superhero boyfriend, not Jane's. And let's face it, even though I was more of a brunette fan, I could understand that reasoning. Of course there was one single, MIA Avenger who could certainly fit that description. Hmmm, that was certainly an interesting thought.

Glancing around at the others behind Steph's back, I realized that I might be the last one to have it. Pepper and Bruce were watching me carefully, probably trying to figure out if I thought I had dibs on Steve, so I rolled my eyes and then grinned indicating at Steph and then charades-ing out holding up a shield to block enemy fire, and throwing it like a frisbee. Bruce looked like he was trying not to crack up as he looked over at Tony with a smirk. Hill was studying Steph, but seemed to be fond of the idea. In fact, looking around the room, everyone seemed on board with that concept.

"So honesty must be pretty important to you, huh?" asked Pepper totally transparently- at least for those of us aware of her endgame.

Steph's enthusiastic, "God yes," definitely fit the bill, though I for one was thinking we'd need to do more sleuthing.

As we all sat around the lounge eating our dinners, we took the time to turn it into a friendly inquisition of sorts. If Steph was going to be living with us and working with us, it just made sense to get to know her. I listened intently as the others asked about her job, and she told stories of some of hilarious endeavors and close calls.

Personally, however, I was more interested in trying to suss out how hurt she was from whatever cheating she had been talking about earlier, and if that was going to stand in our collective matchmaking way at all.

"So, Steph. What did everyone think of you dropping everything to move to New York and work for Tony Stark?" I asked.

Steph shrugged, "honestly, I didn't stop to tell anyone. Ranger knows, obviously, because he recommended me for the job, but no one else knows. And I'm sure they wouldn't care anyway."

"Your boyfriend's name is Ranger?" I asked, feigning confusion.

Steph snorted then said, "no. Ranger's not my boyfriend. Ranger doesn't do relationships. I don't have a boyfriend right now, so no one left behind in Trenton pining away for me or anything like that. Seriously, most people probably won't even notice I'm gone."

That sounded a little depressing really, but I pressed on, "You seem nice and totally awesomely kick-ass. I find that so hard to believe. Ever been married?"

At this, Steph shifted a little uncomfortably, and I made a mental note to back off after she answered this question. "Once. For about a minute before I found him cheating on me on the dining room table." Ouch. That had to hurt. Her tone indicated that the topic was clearly closed for now, and I could understand not wanting to talk about it, especially with a group of relative strangers, so I steered the conversation away to Thor and what he'd been up to since we last saw him.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Steph shooting me a relieved look of gratitude and thought to myself, "oh, don't worry my friend, this conversation will be continued…"

While everyone was sitting around eating dessert, Bruce left briefly and came back with a large medical supply bag.

"You look like you're getting tired, Steph. Can I change the bandages and make sure everything looks okay before you retire for the night? It would make me feel better," he added when it looked like she was going to protest. Ah, emotional Blackmail, worked like a charm, especially on nice people.

When Bruce pulled off the first two bandages, Steph explained that they were from bullets, and they didn't look too bad, though I was not the only one who winced in sympathy. Then she pulled up her shirt a little ways and allowed Bruce to pull the bandage off her stomach, and my eyes widened at that wound. Geeze, that had to hurt like the devil!

"My apologies, Stephanie, I did not know you were injured when I came in or I would not have embraced you so," said Thor. Steph just waved it away before he continued, "you must tell me who did this so I can repay him in kind!"

"JARVIS, the picture please," I said. When the picture of the "skip" was displayed in front of us, I added, "Steph took care of it herself. He's in jail now."

Thor seemed only slightly mollified by this, and replied, "well done, Stephanie, he looks quite large for one so small as yourself. And it appears you did indeed best him in battle. Should I see this man near you again, however, I will not be dissuaded from showing him my displeasure."

I laughed as Steph blinked at him a few times, "Yeah. He's gotten better about it, but he still does say things differently, doesn't he. You'll get used to it. And trust me, if this guy shows up again, let Thor do his thing. It's even better than a taser! At least any you can buy on the market right now."

Tony rolled his eyes off to the side, and I stuck my tongue out, causing Steph to laugh then hiss in pain when that motion caused her to bump into Bruce where he was trying to care for her wound.

"At least he won't know where I live anymore if he gets out while I'm still here," Steph reasoned. I shot her a puzzled look so she elaborated, "today wasn't the first time I met him. He's a boxer trying to make the professional circuit. A couple years ago I had a problem with a buddy of his, Benito Ramirez, when I came across him in a case. Ramirez got fixated on me and when he got out of prison, he started stalking me. Long story short, after Ramirez died, Mario kind of adopted the obsession slowly. He'd started stalking me recently as well, making lots of threats. That's why I was so excited when I got his file this morning."

"He's a fighter, you didn't mention that earlier," said Hill, "that actually makes the amount of damage you did and the fact that you brought him in more than a little impressive for a civilian."

"Ranger and his friends are mostly former mercenaries and special ops. I've been letting them show me a thing or two from time to time."

"Good then you won't be a blank slate."

"Alright, Steph," Pepper cut in. "You've had a long day. Would you like to see your rooms now?"

"Yes, please!"

We all got up and followed Steph as Pepper lead her up the western staircase to the third floor, observing their conversation.

"I don't understand, isn't this the Avengers' living quarters?"

"Yes, and you're part of the team now, so naturally you'll live in the Avengers' quarters."

"But, I'm only temporary."

"We'll see, I'm willing to bet you stay. Though no one will take my bet; I'm notorious for winning. And if you do leave, all we have to do is redecorate a little, which is no problem." Then Pepper continued, launching into a speech that reminded me of my first day in the tower. "Now, as you saw, there are two staircases off the main floor, the east and the west staircases. These connect to eight floors of rooms with additional living rooms on floors three and six. This is the third floor. The elevator we came up is a private Avengers elevator and it does also stop on each floor of rooms. Each floor has two suites on it. Tony and I are on the eighth floor with Thor and Jane below us. Darcy and Hill are on the sixth floor. Bruce is on the fifth floor. We have the fourth floor set up for Natasha & Hawkeye. The third floor is now set up for you, and Steve will be across the way from you if he moves in after you find him. Sam will be on the second floor. If Bucky comes back, we plan to either put him on Bruce's floor or Sam's floor depending on whether he seems to need more medical help or psychological help, which is why we're leaving the other half of theirs empty for now. We have the floors immediately below the common floor left open currently in case we wind up needing to add on to accommodate more people as the team grows."

Stephanie stopped by her door with a surreptitious glance across the way to what would hopefully be Steve's room in a manner that made me smile. That is until Hill elbowed me in the ribs, and I fixed on a regular, friendly face before Steph looked my way.

"As I said earlier, JARVIS has scanned your biometric signals. He knows you, and he'll let you into the spaces you need, including your rooms. You can decide over time who, if anyone, you want to have access to your rooms as well. Each room is fully stocked with anything you should need, except for a kitchen because we all share the first floor kitchen. It's a team-bonding kind of thing. But your suite has a private living room, a bedroom, a bathroom, and an office."

JARVIS opened the door for her, and she stepped in, each of us choosing to follow after a she gave us a nod and gestured that we were welcome. The look on Steph's face was hilarious, and I'm sure reminiscent of mine when I'd first seen my apartment. It was decadent to say the least. Steph's apartment had been done in shades of blue with light colored natural-wood furnishings throughout. Artwork on her walls were largely tropical beach themed, which made her smile and relax a fraction when she saw it. I would never understand how Tony and Pepper pulled those types of details off, though I suspected it involved JARVIS and likely invasions of privacy that none of the rest of us really wanted to know about.

I couldn't hold back the laugh when Stephanie opened her closet door quickly turning away almost immediately before her eyes bugged out and she turned back into it.

"They said fully stocked, didn't they," I asked.

"Yeah, but I just figured that meant it had furniture and linens. I didn't think it meant it came with clothes and, oh god, the shoes."

"Yes, I had those added while we were eating dinner," Pepper replied, "since you said you were a shoe person."

Steph opened her mouth and Pepper just said, "get over it, it is in your contract that you already signed."

Once Pepper finished going through the accommodations and explaining to Stephanie, including the floors not attached to the living quarters, we bade Steph and each other goodnight and went our separate ways. All in all, I was feeling very good about our newest addition.

_**Steph's POV** _

I may not have been a blank slate, but Maria sure had a hell of a lot to teach me, and she didn't take it easy on me at all. Anytime I got overly discouraged, Darcy would pop up to remind me how important it was, and that the training would very possibly save my life. I would tease her about not seeing her doing any training. Eventually, we agreed on me going through and demoing some of the easier moves for her when I had the time or energy.

I liked it as it was a good way for me to review the moves and helped me learn them better and faster. My workouts with Hill, as I quickly found she preferred to be called over Maria, took up about four hours a day, two in the morning and two in the evening. The morning workouts would work on my strength and endurance, while the evening workouts would focus on my fighting and self-defense skills.

In between I worked with JARVIS to search for my "targets" pretty much everywhere in the world. JARVIS was running facial recognition, and I was combing through any information he had on things they liked or didn't like. Despite both JARVIS and Tony's repeated offers, I'd yet to dig into SHIELD's leaked records, but after a week, I did so. Instead of using the information to field places to look, I used it as information on where not to look. No way they didn't know exactly what information was in their files and they'd assume their enemies did by now too.

I had my search for Hawkeye narrowed down to just a handful of places by the end of the third week. Without more information, I was going to have to pick a place and just give it a try, and I knew which one seemed to draw me the most. For one last night, knowing I'd talk to Tony in the morning, I sat looking at each of the files on the locations I suspected Hawkeye might be in. Finally, giving in to my spidey sense, I pulled one forward and started studying it carefully.

A voice spoke from next to me, and I turned, letting out a surprised shriek when I saw the disembodied head of a black man with a goatee wearing a gold helmet with horns, "you have chosen wisely. Go to the lumbermill."

Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, the head was gone, "JARVIS," I called tentatively, "can you see into my room, and if so, did you see that?"

"Yes, Ms. Plum, and also yes. I'm running all known databases searching for a match, but I'm not finding any. My scanners don't show any sign of life in the building, though they didn't register anything when he appeared either."

"Seriously, Jarvis, call me Steph. Is Thor still in the building?"

"I'm sorry my programming won't allow me comply with that command, and yes, Thor is still in the Tower."

"Can you ask him to meet me on the main floor? Let him know it isn't an emergency, but it is urgent."

"He will be there at once."

I pulled a sweater on over my pajamas, slid on some slippers, and grabbed a ponytail holder to fix my hair as I ran downstairs. By the time I came skidding to a halt in the living room, Thor was there, and the rest of the team came in as I was still stammering, trying to find the words for what had happened.

Finally, I just settled on, "JARVIS, please play the video of the incident."

When it finished playing, I turned to Thor and said, "please tell me that is your Heimdall. That is the least freaky answer I can come up with right now."

"Yes, you are correct, that is indeed Heimdall. He can see and hear across all the realms, and also through time on occasion. He has not seen fit to fully explain that to me, but I believe if you were planning to go to this place, and thinking about it hard enough, he may have been able to see the possible outcomes. Then he projected his likeness here to guide you. It is something he finds tiring, so he seldom does this and never for very long."

"And you trust him?"

"Absolutely. He is a warrior of great honor and loyalty."

"Okay, then, Tony," I said turning to the man in question, "I need to go as soon as possible."

"No problem. You should get some rest and I'll have a Quinjet that JARVIS can pilot set to take you wherever you want to go first thing in the morning. As we've discussed, it will work best for you if you don't have a large crew backing you up. Do you want to go solo or pick a security guard to take with you."

I took a deep breath and said, "I'll go alone."

"What currency do you need, I'll make sure you have cash so that you don't need to worry about leaving a trail."

"Just US dollars."

"Really? Interesting."

"Yes, really."

"One more thing, Steph. I know Ranger gave you a panic button, and it will contact me, but I've convinced everyone else in this room, other than Thor because it breaks when he travels to other realms, and Hill because, again, spy, to allow me to implant them with a GPS tracker and communicator. I'd like to inject one in you, if you will allow me to. We can remove it anytime you want, but it will offer you a direct connection to JARVIS with only a whisper, and will allow us to reliably locate you if you otherwise fall off the grid."

I thought about that for several minutes before nodding my head.

"Great!" Tony exclaimed, then pulled a syringe out of his pocked and asked me to tilt my head to the side. He slid the needle in behind my ear and I could barely feel it before he cleared his throat and said, "good. JARVIS, if you would."

"Ms. Plum, can you hear me?"

"Yep," I whispered.

"Very good," JARVIS said, then to the room he announced, "everything is working as it should."

Everyone dispersed on their way, and I took the stairs back up to my room. "JARVIS, how well do you know the contents of my closet?"

"Very well, Ms. Plum, what do you require."

"Do I have any good winter gear? And I mean seriously good… we're going to Alaska in the morning."

"You have some winter gear, but probably not good enough if you're going to spend any time outdoors this time of year. I shall make sure there is suitable attire for you in the Quinjet before morning."

"Thanks, Jarv. You're the best."

"You're quite welcome, Ms. Plum."

_**Clint's POV** _

Someone had found me. Or close enough. She hadn't found my exact location within this godforsaken town yet, but it was only a matter of time. I'd been here for way longer than I should have been, almost a year now for a three month mission, and she just had a way of getting people to talk. Something about her had even the most trustworthy people answering her questions about me.

And she had pictures that she was showing around as she asked her questions. Which pretty much guaranteed her correct answers, but also was tipping off some people who I didn't want to think about me at all, let alone carefully. This woman had strode into town, seemingly out of absolutely nowhere, a mere 4 hours ago and things were going to hell for me quickly.

Not that they'd been all that great before this, because, let's face it, I was in some bush town in the middle of fucking Alaska in a snowstorm, and my handler hadn't been in contact with me in well over six months. Come to think of it, how had this woman even gotten here in this weather?

Watching her it was painfully obvious that she wasn't a local, and probably she wasn't even someone who had gone camping. She seemed woefully ignorant about the outdoors, just wandering about without a care when she should have had several. Not to mention the fact that in addition to asking about me, she'd been asking about the lumbermill. I had absolutely no idea why because I'd never been to the lumbermill myself, but regardless, she was asking.

Which is why it was absolutely no surprise whatsoever when she, and her Glock 26, stumbled their way through the snow to the lumbermill… trailed by the very men I'd been on my mission against. I'd killed their leader and significantly crippled their alien artifact smuggling ring six months ago, without being detected and while keeping my cover intact. And now this small, curly-haired brunette was blowing that all. At least in all her asking after me, she'd never provided a name.

Still, I snuck into the lumbermill ahead of her, and watched from the rafters as she looked around. If I didn't know any better, I'd think she expected to find me here. But I don't know why that would be, as this was my first time here as well. Unsurprisingly, I heard the men who had followed her surrounded circle the building before four of them stepped inside, leaving one to return to their SUV.

"Well hello there, Pretty Lady. What brings you to our humble mill?"

"Hi there!" she forced out, managing to sound upbeat and perky even though I could see the pulse in her neck increase in speed. "I'm a professional photographer, and I was planning to do a series of photos on Alaska in the winter. This lumbermill was recommended to me as quite the site, so I'm just here, you know, scouting the location."

She hadn't hesitated and had delivered the line, but "oh yeah," the ringleader asked, "if you're a photographer, where's your camera?"

"Oh, well, you know, it's heavy. With the snow and all, I figured scout today, bring it out tomorrow. Is this your property? I'd love to get your permission to use this property in my series," she flashed them a smile. I had to hand it to this woman, she had guts. Lots of them, and she managed to keep a cool demeanor about her that made me think this might not be the worst situation she'd been in. Made me a little homesick for Natasha, though she had less of Natasha's Russian harshness. Of course, there were a few problems with her story like, most photographers still scouted locations with at least one camera, and they usually had a small crew of locals with them. Also, there was the matter of…

"Then why do you have a gun?"

She did a very good impression of an innocent face as she used the opportunity to pull the gun out of her holster, and I noticed her slightly preparing herself for attack. Oh fuck, this wasn't going to go well.

"Bears," she replied evenly. Which was good, except that most people just carried bear spray, and if they did carry a gun, it wasn't a Glock 26, it was a hunting rifle. The men started circling her and one feigned a move toward her from the front while another grabbed her from behind. In a matter of seconds, they had her gun hand up in the air, making it ineffective against them for the time being. She remained surprisingly calm, and didn't struggle at all which I noticed got them to loosen their grips and back off a little.

"What do you know about Logan?"

And, that was my cover name. Not good.

"I don't know any Logan."

"Yeah, right. You've been crawling around town ever since dawn asking anyone you can find about him."

"I don't know any Logan."

That's when the ringleader punched her. She continued denying to know about my existence as they worked her over pretty good. Eventually they seemed to decide that she wasn't giving anything up and they needed to head back if they wanted to make it back to town before dark, so they started pulling her gun hand down and trying to point her gun to her head with her hand still on the trigger. The woman quickly picked up on their game, and that was when she started fighting back.

Something about this woman made me know I didn't want to let them kill her, so I dropped down out of the rafters, and kicked the most imminent threat away from her, breaking his wrist in the process. I heard them each unsnap their holsters and pull their guns, as I dragged the first guy with me. When a second tried to gang up on me, I kicked a worktable into him, knocking him out of the way. The one I had a hold on used my momentary distraction to pull a gun with his other hand, so I used it to shoot him in the shoulder then snapped his neck.

I heard the woman frantically shooting her gun at the man who had stayed with her, and was reasonably sure she'd hit him. The woman had run off into a corner then up the staircase into the loft, so I focused on keeping stray bullets from that corner as the remaining two came at me. When the furthest one pulled a gun, I slid behind a heavy piece of machinery, dragging the closer one with me. I grabbed a wrench from the floor and hit him hard enough in the head that he wouldn't be getting up again. Then I hit a button on one of the saws so that it would make noise and draw the last of the four to it, and waited patiently. When he cleared the corner, I shot him cleanly between the eyes. Knowing the fifth man was approaching at this point, and hearing his shoes on the walkway, I launched myself through the front window at him, emptying my clip in his chest.

I did one more quick look around the building to make sure that was really all of them, for now, then scaled the outside wall and jumped onto the windowsill outside the loft. I eased the window open and slid through it with both my guns held clearly out to the sides of my head and pointed to the roof. I still had enough adrenaline rushing through my system to feel a bit of relief when I heard the relatively soft clicks of her gun reaffirming my counting skills.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said calmly and reasonably. "You're out of bullets, and I'm not here to hurt you."

Her eyes finally focused on me and she let out a sigh and dropped her head on her knees letting her gun go limp in her hands. "Hawkeye," she whispered quietly, the relief clear in her voice.

"Do you want to live?" I asked.

When she nodded warily, I said, "then follow me."

We started making our way through the forest at a run, leaving the SUV behind but once we'd made it about a mile away in the direction of town I stopped and turned to her.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Stephanie Plum, I have a lot to tell you and explain to you, but Tony Stark sent me. He told me to tell you, 'and then shawarma after,' which means nothing to me but hopefully means enough to you for you to trust me to get us out of here."

I contemplated that for several minutes, calculating out the possibilities, but this woman was alone, and I could definitely take her out if I had to. There hadn't been even the tiniest hint of someone with her, and in as small of a town as this was, there would have been if she'd had backup. Plus, it was a direct quote that, as far as I knew, no one else was aware of and she hadn't given the men my name when she found herself in a really bad situation. Bad guys may know we'd gotten shawarma, but they probably couldn't have guessed a verbatim quote. So I nodded my head curtly at her.

She muttered under her breath, then started guiding us through the forest. Eventually she stopped on the edges of a clearing and muttered to herself again. In front of my eyes, a Quinjet appeared. Or at least, it looked like the last Quinjet I'd seen, but a little sleeker and a good bit bigger. I pulled my gun, leveling it on her until I noticed that the logo on the side wasn't the SHIELD logo or any other espionage organization. It was an A with an arrow crossing it and a circle around it. If I didn't know any better…

"It stands for The Avengers. Can we please go inside? I'll open the ramp," and at that word, the ramp opened, and I could see that it was empty inside. Still, I grabbed her and pulled her in front of me, holding my gun up to her temple, and slowly stepped onto the jet. Then I pulled her with me as I checked every inch of the plane and I was certain we were alone.

"Close the ramp," I demanded, satisfied when it did. I released her, and she said, "JARVIS, please enable cloaking again."

"Already done, Ms. Plum," came a familiar British voice.


	5. The First Triumphant Return and Black Widow

_**Steph’s POV** _

 

I mentally congratulated myself on not dying or pissing my pants during that fight as Clint eyed me warily from across the Quinjet.  Usually, Ranger would storm a place, and people would submit, if they didn’t, I still was rarely involved in a gunfight where so many bullets were flying.  But none of them had hit me, likely thanks to Hawkeye, and none of them appeared to have hit him either.

 

Knowing that he’d been in deep cover for almost a year and likely had not heard a single word of SHIELD’s fall, given the remoteness of his location and how rarely it seemed he’d been seen in town, I knew this would be a difficult conversation.

 

“Do you have a phone?  Or can you get one or a computer that you will absolutely trust the information that you find on it?”

 

“I’m clearly within Stark’s domain, so I trust very little electronic within this bubble, but sure.”

 

“SHIELD has fallen-- it had been infiltrated at every level by HYDRA agents and, working with Deputy Director Maria Hill and Nick Fury himself, Black Widow, Captain America, and a new friend of theirs, Falcon, burned it to the ground to flush them out.  They released every single one of the files from SHIELD’s secure databases onto the Internet.  If you leave here, will you be able to find your way back?”  When I nodded she said, “I’ll wait here, with the jet cloaked.  When you approach, as long as you’re alone, JARVIS will let you back on the jet.  Verify that information and come back, okay?  I’ll be waiting.”

 

_**Clint’s POV** _

 

I nodded my head and lowered the ramp then strode back into the forest.  I waited until dark, then broke into the house of a bush pilot who I knew was out on a supply run and accessed his computer.  I spent the next several hours combing through the news that I hadn’t allowed myself to access in the entirety of my time undercover.  Fury was dead and SHIELD was gone.  I didn’t know what to do with myself, but there was an obvious starting point for me. So I took an extra half an hour to look into Stephanie Plum, the Bombshell Bounty Hunter of Trenton, New Jersey.  Knowing she was a bounty hunter made me a little uncomfortable, but I could find nothing linking her to any terrorist organizations.  In fact, she was linked to Rangeman, and I’d come across Ranger Manoso once or twice in my time.  If she really was associated with him, it was probably safe to trust her.

 

Retracing my route, I made it back to the clearing, making sure I wasn’t followed, and sighed with relief when the whir of the Quinjet’s ramp opening greeted me.  I stepped back on and said, “JARVIS, cloak it.”

 

“Done, Agent Barton, it is nice to see you again.”

 

“Seems as though it is just Barton now, JARVIS.”

 

“So it would seem Mr. Barton, but I’m sure you’ll be able to change that if you want.  Perhaps Hawkeye would work for now.”

 

I looked over and saw Stephanie sleeping in one of the chairs, “Hawkeye is fine, J.”

 

I stooped down in front of Stephanie and gently shook her awake.  She woke with a start and when she reached for her gun, I grabbed her hand, waiting until she focused on me and relaxed to let her go.

 

“Tony sent you, what does he want.”

 

“He wanted to make sure you were okay.  Everyone was fairly certain that you were under when SHIELD went down, and most undercover agents they could find after the fact were dead.  You hadn’t made contact with anyone, and if you were someone other than Hawkeye, they probably would have given up hope, but they figured you must be alive.  Tony has his Tower up and running with a place for you to stay for as long as you want at no charge, and a job for you if you want one, though that is optional.  He wants to gather the Avengers together in case earth needs protecting again.  And because you’re family.”

 

“And where do you fit in?”

 

“I’m good at finding people.  He hired me to find you.”

 

“What about Natasha?”

 

“She went under after she burned her covers.  She’s next on my list to find.  We thought you were in the most danger, so I found you first, though I’ve done some research on the others as I could fit in when I needed breaks from your data.”

 

“Others?”

 

“Natasha, Captain America, and the Falcon.”

 

“Cap is missing?”

 

“HYDRA had an asset known as The Winter Soldier--”

 

“Let me stop you right there, the guy’s a ghost.”

 

“Are you sure about that?”

 

I flashed back to Natasha telling me about her mission going south in Odessa and losing the nuclear scientist she was escorting.  “No,” I finally replied.

 

“That’s right because he was real.  HYDRA brought him out to fight Cap, Natasha, and Falcon. It also at least appears that he killed Fury.  Well, it turns out that he is none other than Captain America’s best friend, Sergeant Bucky Barnes, captured by HYDRA, cryogenically frozen, experimented on, and brainwashed into an assassin.  Captain America is trying to find him, help him, and probably bring him home.”

 

I nodded, being infinitely familiar with wanting to help a brainwashed assassin myself.  I knew such brainwashing could, and should, be broken if at all possible.

 

“If I come back?”

 

“You have a place to stay, clothes, weapons, and food.  You can do whatever you want, but if you want to help me, I’m looking for Natasha next.”

 

I allowed a hint of a smile to cross my lips, “Yeah, I’ll help you.  Tasha is going to like you.  I’ll help you find her, and you can go in just like you did for me.  I’m almost certain she won’t try to kill you.  Can’t say the same for myself, she’s going to be pissed at me for being gone so long.  So I’ll stay home and let you bring her to me.”

 

I eyed the single pilot seat in the jet and asked her, “you a pilot?”

 

“No, JARVIS flew me.  He can fly us back if you want to rest, or you can fly us if you’d rather.”

 

“I’ll do it, no offense, JARVIS.  You can go back to sleep, Stephanie.”

 

“Please, call me Steph,” she said as she buckled into the seat closest to the cockpit and snuggled back under her blanket, closing her eyes and flooring me with her complete trust in me.

 

Just a few short hours later, Steph was awake and instructing me to land on the parking pad a couple stories from the top of Stark Tower.  

 

“I see Stark Tower is just as ostentatious as always,” I said to her, “maybe even more so.”

 

“I’d never seen it in person until three weeks ago, but he calls it Avengers Tower now,” she replied, and I smiled when I saw that instead of replacing the “Stark” on the side of the building, Stark had chosen to just replace the remaining A with the A of the Avengers logo.

 

I landed smoothly and gestured to Steph to go ahead and exit before me.  I watched as Tony, Bruce, and Thor looked disappointed at Stephanie exiting the jet alone.  When she turned around and looked back at me with a smile, I took a deep breath and stepped onto the ramp to exit the jet.

 

Bruce smiled softly, Tony let out a whoop of delight, and Thor laughed then rushed and smack me on the back before pulling me into a one-armed man hug.  Stephanie was grinning wide, so I walked up next to her, put her in a headlock, and messed up her hair as we stepped into the lobby.  I saw Pepper wiping a tear from her eye before she stepped forward and welcomed me “home”.  Thor stepped forward again introduced me to his girlfriend and her assistant with a great deal of enthusiasm.  We all got onto the oversized elevator and took it down to a giant living room where Pepper had a breakfast of champions waiting for us.  

 

We ate breakfast, and Pepper explained the living situation.  Then we settled on the couches in the sitting area and I caught up with everyone on what had happened in their lives since I’d last seen them and got to know the three women who were new to the team.  Eventually Steph drifted off to sleep, so I asked more pointed questions about her.  Satisfied with the answers I received, I stared contemplatively at her.

 

I turned to Pepper and said, “do you think she and Cap?”  The entire room burst out laughing, thankfully not waking Steph up, and I asked, “what?”

 

“We agree,” squeaked out Darcy, who surprisingly recovered first.  Oddly I think it was the ensuing silence that woke Steph up, so when she sat up and asked how long she’d been out, we answered and I watched amused as she wandered over to the kitchen and got herself some coffee.

 

Everyone else filtered out to work, and I stared at Steph solemnly.  “Hills been training you?”

 

“Yes, getting me to exercise and then working on my hand-to hand.  From 5am-7am and from 5pm-7pm. Every day, even the weekends.”

 

“Okay, you’re working with me in the gun range from 7am-9am.”

 

“I really don’t like guns.”

 

Considering that and what had happened in Alaska, I asked her softly, “are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, wasn’t the first, and as much as I’d like it to be, it probably won’t be the last.”

 

I watched her contemplatively for a few minutes, but I saw the truth of it in her eyes.  She may have been thrown for a loop, but she would be fine.

 

“You have an office?”

 

“Yep, just down a few floors.”

 

“Well, Stephanie Plum, why don’t we head to your office.  You can tell me how you found me, and we’ll work on finding Tasha?”

 

As we entered her office she said, “basically I found you by looking at everywhere that you’d never been and might have lower chances of seeing coverage of the Battle of New York and its aftermath.  Then I cross-referenced it with places that SHIELD’s records indicated that they might have sent someone undercover.  And last was just my gut instinct, I guess you could call it. Oh, and I can’t forget Heimdall!”

 

She then explained to me her experience with a head appearing and telling her to go to the sawmill in Alaska.  For a second I thought about not believing her, but then I thought of everything I’d seen with SHIELD and in the Battle of New York, and figured there was truth to her story.

 

“Okay, so I know with you I went with places you hadn’t been seen before, but I have a different feeling with Natasha.  I think she might go somewhere she knew, that she’d been before, but thought she could hide and you might look for her.”

 

I nodded because it made sense.  Natasha was exceptionally good at blending in and had always been good at altering her appearance so those who had met her before might not recognize her.

 

“I was reading through the transcript made of the Battle,” she said.  If it wasn’t for what she said next, I wouldn’t have believed that she could read me already.  But she looked at me then said, “don’t worry. It is on a secure server and encrypted, so as far as I know, no one outside of Tony, probably Pepper, and I have access to it.”

 

I nodded at her abruptly and she drew in a breath, “Natasha says to you, ‘it’s like Budapest all over again.’  I don’t know what that means, and you don’t need to tell me.  I’m just wondering if you think she’d go there?”

 

I had frozen as soon as Steph said that, and then I spent the next ten minutes working through the angles, Tasha’s familiarity with the city, and every other variable I could come up with.  I cleared my throat and then said, “yes, that’s a safe bet. You repeat that to her when you find her, okay?  And you tell her my response too.”

 

We spent the next three hours going through her research and likely locations within Budapest.  There was an empty dance studio that we both came back too over and over again.  It had one wall of windows looking out over the city, dark flooring, and mirrors on the other three walls.  As we contemplated Steph’s entry and possible moves, a head appeared out of nowhere, and I was glad I had warning about Heimdall’s new method of providing input.

 

“Go to the dance studio at sunrise tomorrow.”

 

**_Natasha’s POV_ **

 

There was a woman here.  A woman I did not invite here.  Which shouldn’t be surprising because I never invited anyone.  And she was in my space.  I studied her through the surveillance camera feed as she approached the building and stood looking at it.

 

“Look, woman.  Get in or get out, just stop looking at the building and drawing attention,” I screamed at the monitors.

 

Finally, she stepped forward and entered the building.  Much to my surprise, instead of getting on the elevator, she walked up the stairs to the fifth floor where my studio was.  Silently, I slipped into the air ducts and slid my way through them to the studio.  I watched through the grates of a vent in the ceiling as the woman walked into the studio and looked around.

 

She seemed to be waiting for something, I don’t know what, as she watched through the windows as sunlight slowly filtered into the city.  After a while, she seemed almost disappointed that nothing had happened, and she eyed her surrounding contemplatively before shrugging.  Then she pulled out her phone and tapped on the screen for a while.  A few seconds later, music started blaring out from her phone and she set it on the ground.  What followed had to be the most awkward “white person dance” that I’d ever seen.

 

_“I stay out too late_

_Got nothing in my brain_

_That's what people say, mmm-mmm_

_That's what people say, mmm-mmm_

_I go on too many dates_

_But I can't make them stay_

_At least that's what people say, mmm-mmm_

_That's what people say, mmm-mmm_

_But I keep cruising_

_Can't stop, won't stop moving_

_It's like I got this music_

_In my mind_

_Saying, "It's gonna be alright."_

_'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play_

_And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate_

_Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake_

_I shake it off, I shake it off_

_Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break_

_And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake_

_Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake_

_I shake it off, I shake it off_

_I never miss a beat_

_I'm lightning on my feet_

_And that's what they don't see, mmm-mmm_

_That's what they don't see, mmm-mmm”_

 

I’d grabbed my pointe shoes before checking the security cameras and I had them over my shoulder so, I slipped them on.  Shortly after the end of the first chorus, I dropped down through the vents, and danced some ballet behind her, aware of the fact that she could see me in the mirrors, but choosing to let loose anyway.

 

_“I'm dancing on my own (dancing on my own)_

_I make the moves up as I go (moves up as I go)_

_And that's what they don't know, mmm-mmm_

_That's what they don't know, mmm-mmm_

_But I keep cruising_

_Can't stop, won't stop grooving_

_It's like I got this music_

_In my mind_

_Saying, "It's gonna be alright."_

_'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play_

_And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate_

_Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake_

_I shake it off, I shake it off_

_Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break_

_And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake_

_Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake_

_I shake it off, I shake it off”_

 

We kept dancing through the rest of the song though unspoken mutual agreement, allowing it to finish before we squared off with each other.  I’m not a fool, I’d seen her guns, but I also knew I could disarm her before she even drew it if I needed to.  I studied her, silently waiting.  She took me in and seemed nervous, but then she took a deep breath and swallowed before opening her mouth.  Then she said something that I wasn’t expecting and almost stopped my heart.

 

“...just like Budapest all over again.”

 

I maintained my cool as I stared at her.  Not sure I could trust all the things I was feeling, I fixed her with a steely gaze and didn’t say a word.  

 

She opened her mouth again, and what came out was, “you and I remember Budapest very differently.”

 

I felt like someone had stepped on my heart, but love was for children, so I pulled my guns and leveled them both at her, surprised when instead of pulling hers, she raised her hands in a sign of benevolence.  “Who sent you?” I demanded.

 

“Clint,” she said, licking her lips, “and Tony says, ‘and then shawarma after.’”  

 

I studied her silently for what had to be another 15 minutes, and she didn’t waiver, just stared at me steadily as though waiting for some unknowable signal.

 

“How did you find me?”

 

“JARVIS, my own intuition, Clint, and a little bit of help from a gatekeeper of the Gods.”  When I raised my brow she said, “Thor’s in town again, and his buddy Heimdall apparently sees all.  He suggested that I show up here at this time, and I figured I’d listen to him.  He helped me find Clint too.”

 

“What do you want?”

 

“I want to let you know that Tony is getting your team back together.  He has an apartment for you at Avengers Tower in New York, and Clint is there too.  Thor is there, and so is Bruce.  I’m working on finding Captain America next.  Obviously, if you don’t want to, don’t to come with me, but if you want to, I’ll take you there.  You may not have spent much time with them, but that team sees you as family and they want you with them.”

 

“Stay here for a minute?” I asked, and when she agreed, I went to gather a few things I couldn’t leave behind and erase then destroy all the security footage and equipment.  I walked back into the studio through the doors instead of dropping through the air vents this time, and I was relieved to see her still standing there.  When she looked at my bag that I had over my shoulder, I looked away and with a hint of shyness, I said, “you got a plan to get us out of here?  I can’t exactly go to a regular airport.”

 

“I’ve got you covered,” she replied, “we just have to go to the roof next door.”

 

I followed her lead and when we got to the roof, a new Quinjet appeared out of nowhere so we could board it.  This time I let out a genuine smile when I saw the Avengers’ logo on the side.  After we climbed on board and the woman asked JARVIS to raise the ramp, she turned to me and said, “I’ll offer you the same deal I offered Clint.  JARVIS flew me here; he’ll fly us back if you want, but if you’re uncomfortable, you can fly us instead.”

 

Without any more hesitation, I strapped myself into one of the passenger seats, satisfied when the woman sat down next to me and strapped herself into a seat.  Once we were in flight I turned to her and said, “not that I’m not enjoying the air of mystery here, but you clearly know who I am.  Care to return the favor?”

 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.  I didn’t even think to introduce myself; I was just so happy that you didn’t kill me!”

 

“You thought I was going to kill you?”

 

“I was of the opinion you’d kill me in two seconds flat, but Bruce said you’d kill me before I even knew to start counting.”

 

I let out a dry chuckle at that, and said, “so what’s your name and where did Stark find you?”

 

“My name is Stephanie Plum, and I was a bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey before Stark found me and asked me to help bring your team back together.”

 

We spent the remainder of the flight getting to know each other and exchanging battle stories.  Mine were, quite predictably, more intense, but many of hers were nothing to sneeze at either.  By the time we were approaching Manhattan airspace, I felt like I had an amazing grasp on Steph, and I was looking forward to getting to know her better.

 

Probably the most tense moment from me in terms of not being in the control of the jet was landing, but JARVIS made it smooth, so I thanked him before the ramp lowered.  The second I caught sight of Clint waiting for me on the helipad, I ran down and launched myself into his arms, hugging him close.

 

“I had to release those files, and I didn’t know where you were.  I was so scared.”

 

“I’m here, Tash. I’ve got you now, and we’re free of SHIELD, so I don’t have to let you go again.”

 

“That sounds perfect,” I mumbled into his chest.  “We’re setting her up with Steve, and I’m not taking no as an answer from him this time.”

 

I felt the rumble of his laughter as he pressed a kiss to my head and said, “agreed.”

 

“You teach her to shoot, I’ll teach her to fight.”

 

“Deal.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I don't own the song lyrics either!


	6. Falcon and Heimdall's Bad Decision

_**Steph’s POV** _

 

The speed at which I managed to locate Natasha and Clint was misleading, in the end.  Another two months had come and gone, and I was only starting to get a hints of clues on the Captain and the Falcon.  My daily training with Hill had turned into daily training with HIll and Natasha, or Nat as she actually let me call her.  As you might imagine, they were twice as difficult with the addition of The Black Widow into the mix.  And I was still training on my gun with Hawkeye daily as well.

 

One morning instead of my alarm waking me up at 4:45am, just enough time to roll out of bed and into clothes before meeting my trainers in the gym, I was woken up at 4am by JARVIS turning on my lights and playing an alarm that we’d pre-determined for our project.  I instantly snapped awake, stumbling out of bed in my pajamas.

 

“Who’d you find?”

 

“I’ve got Falcon on a flight from London.  His plane will be landing in Washington D.C. in two hours time.  I’m sorry I didn’t find him sooner to give you more time.”

 

Hearing that, I stumbled straight into my shower, yelling over the sound of the water to JARVIS to get the jet ready for me.  Without stopping to talk to anyone or even wake them up, I made my way upstairs and climbed onto the jet and settled in for the short flight to D.C.  We tossed ideas back and forth about how I should approach him and get his attention before I decided to just meet him off his plane.

 

Of all the Avengers I was looking for, I had clearly underestimated him the most because he got the drop on me more than either of the other two had.  I was standing at the front of the pack of limo drivers, holding a sign that said, "on your left.  See me for new wings."

 

I was fending of crude comments from some men who were walking by, when I felt someone press up against me, wrapping me in a one-armed hug from behind.  It would have been comforting in some circumstances if it weren't for the knife I felt pressed into my spine about as tight as it could without cutting me.  

 

"Who are you, and who sent you here? And think before you speak because I know it wasn't Cap."

 

"Natasha-- she wants to know where the Smithsonian is because she’s here to pick up a fossil.  And Tony Stark.  You haven't met him yet, but he really does want to give you new wings."  I felt him ease up a little and added, "I'm not shooting at you so I must not be a bad guy, right?  My name is Stephanie Plum, and Stark hired me to find Hawkeye, Black Widow, Cap, and you."

 

"Why?"

 

"He has a safe apartment for you in New York City.  One for each of the Avengers, and they consider you one of them now.  Stark is trying to pull everyone together in case the world tries to end again."

 

I felt myself being released and put my hands up slowly turning around to face who I was glad to see was indeed Falcon.  He held his hand out to me and said, "nice to meet you, Steph.  I'm Sam. Sorry for the rude greeting, but I had to use my own ID for the flight, and I wasn't sure who would meet me."

 

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but they're at your house.  You don't have to come with me back to New York if you don't want to, but you probably shouldn't go home."

 

"And how do you know that?"

 

"It's D.C., they have crime cameras everywhere.  JARVIS started checking them as soon as he saw you on that flight from London; the cameras captured HYDRA agents all around your apartment while I was flying down here this morning."

 

"It's quite early; sorry you had to get up so soon.  Now, let's go to this Tower.  Manhattan, right?"

 

"Don't worry, I get a bonus for finding you with extra because you agreed to come back to The Tower, so it is certainly worth the early wake up call. I’m going to need lots of caffeine today though..."

 

"I flew commercial with my own ID; sounds like easy money to me."

 

"Sure, but you had me at knife point, and HYDRA could have been here.  Which reminds me, I get a whole day of hazard pay as well."

 

"Pshhh, easy money.  Cut the check!"

 

I pulled up short when we got to the Quinjet and felt Sam tense up next to me for a second.  Then he let out a laugh and kept walking forward.  Standing in front of the jet were Clint and Natasha.

 

"How'd you even?" I asked and when Natasha just raised her brow, I muttered, "fuckin spies," which caused all three of my companions to laugh.

 

We stepped into the jet, and Clint strapped himself into the pilot seat while the rest of us buckled into the back.  A short flight later, we were landing back at the Tower.  When the ramp lowered, I was surprised to see Hill at the bottom.

 

With blatant curiosity, I watched as Sam walked out and looked her over from head to toe.

 

_**Sam's POV** _

 

"Deputy Director Hill, imagine seeing you here," I said with a wide smile on my face.

 

"It's just Maria now, thanks to you and that friend of yours."

 

"Ha! ‘That friend.’  It’s okay, you can say his name.  Captain America.  I’m friends with Captain America; I must be awesome." I replied, shooting Steph a wink, "and I seem to remember you agreeing with and coming up with the plan that destroyed SHIELD."

 

"I may have agreed, but it was my plan that destroyed the Helicarriers, not SHIELD.  That bit was all Cap and Natasha over there!"

 

I saw Steph turn to Natasha who gave her a little finger wave that made Steph bust out laughing.

 

Looking Maria in the eye, I let my sincerity shine through as I said, "it is good to see you... Maria."

 

The slight blush I got in return instantly imprinted itself on my brain, a memory I would never forget.  Maria guided the group downstairs where I had the pleasure of actually being introduced to Hawkeye, then Stark, Bruce, Thor, Jane, and Darcy.  Around the time we all finished eating, Pepper Potts breezed in, introduced herself, apologized for being late, and gave me a badge and an apartment.  She could be late anytime if that's how she apologized.

 

Once we'd eaten our fill and everyone else had wandered off, Steph, Maria, Natasha, Clint, Tony and I crammed into Steph's office.

 

"Okay," Steph said, chewing on her lip, "not that we aren't happy to have you here, but why are you here.  Why did you suddenly decide to come back?"

 

"Research.  We ran out of leads.  Steve's still trying to track him, but there were several things that would go better if I could get a reliable, secured internet connection on which to do some research.  Or an unsecured connection that no one would be able to find me through before I could run.  Where we were wasn't exactly the internet capital of the world, so we decided I'd go do that research.  If I found anything promising, I’d then try to find a way to get in touch with him.  I have some vague ideas of where he might go.”

 

“Alright, I haven’t run much on Bucky yet because the plan was for me to find all of the rest of you first so I’d have backup for Bucky,” Steph started before Tony cut her off.

 

“No, so you could find Bucky and we could send Cap in after him.  I don’t care that these ladies have been training you for a couple months now, you don’t go after Bucky.  Got it?”

 

Hearing Tony’s tone, if I hadn’t known he was an only child, I’d have thought Steph was his troublesome little sister.  Regardless, she nodded her head before showing me what “little” she did have on Bucky.  Tony and Maria wandered off to go back to their regular jobs as we settled in to begin searching to the best of our abilities.  After an hour, Steph split off to go grab us all some coffee, and I decided it was time for a break once I was sure she was out of earshot.

 

Kicking back and putting my feet up on her desk, I smiled when Natasha and Clint followed suit.  

 

“So… we’re setting her up with Cap when she finds him, right?”

 

“Right,” Natasha said with such finality that I knew Steve better not even try to give ‘no’ for an answer.

 

“You know, it wasn’t the right time before, Natasha.  And they weren’t the right girls you were picking out.  He appreciates that you care enough to try though, even if, and this is a direct quote, you need to work on your timing.”

 

“He tell you that?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“What else did he tell you?”

 

“That one of the women you tried to get him to ask out was an Agent who was lying about who she was and related to his first, admittedly god-awful, attempt at a relationship.  He also said that you knew none of the women you suggested were right and that you were just trying to remind him to get out and make a life for himself outside of SHIELD.”

 

When Natasha frowned at that, Clint chuckled to himself before saying, “Guy gets all that military backpay, which Coulson found the time to push through before the Battle, and he never buys anything for himself, never goes out of his SHIELD-provided quarters, just spends his time going on any mission he can and training in between.  It drove Nat nuts!”

 

“Think he’ll listen this time when it is the right woman?” asked Natasha, watching my face in that careful way of hers to which I was slowly growing accustomed.  Steve always told me it was because she was still trying to figure out how to have friends and trust people.  Whatever the reason, I was getting used to it.

 

“Yes. Then he was trying to make sense of the world and find something to do that would pass the time and be somewhat familiar while he did.  When he’s finished this last mission, he’s going to be looking for something else.  He’s looking for home.”

 

_**Steph’s POV** _

 

Everyone stopped talking when I walked back in with the coffee, but since coming here and bringing back Avengers, I’d gotten used to it.  These were people who, first of all, had serious trust issues, and second of all, didn’t know me from Adam when I brought them back.  It made sense that they would exchange intel until they all started getting used to me.  I tried not to let it bother me.

 

For the next week, it seemed like I was always with Clint, Natasha, or Sam.  More often than not, I was with all three.  Clint and Sam observed my physical training sessions and took turns sparring with me.  I was adamant that fighting Natasha and Maria would make me good enough, but everyone else agreed that I needed to fight men who were much larger than me and had different fighting styles as well.

 

So when I woke up in the middle of the night to a man’s voice in my room, I woke up fighting.  Of course, since it was that projection of Heimdall again, there was nothing to fight and I collapsed back.

 

“You need to go to him now; get ready and I will transport you,” he commanded before disappearing.  I followed his order quickly, dressing in layers because I didn’t know where I was going, and managed to grab some cash and stash my gun on my person before I was bathed in a warm light.  

 

Stumbling slightly when I landed in a forest, I looked at my feet and saw a crazy pattern that seemed to be almost burned into the ground.  Alright, so it was probably safe to assume my entrance would be noticed.  Quickly and quietly, I slipped into the woods and tried to disappear.  Once I’d managed, I called to JARVIS to ask where I was and take me to the nearest city.

 

_**Bucky’s POV** _

 

A new woman showed up in town and started asking about Steve on the same day there was an unexplained disturbance in the forest a mile away.  No way was that a coincidence.  Though I wasn’t sure why she was asking about Steve, he hadn’t arrived yet.  And as far as I knew, he’d never been here before.  His train would arrive later tonight, just after mine departed going in the opposite direction.  Which didn’t leave me a lot of time for distractions, like this woman.

 

It almost didn’t seem like she wound up in Toronto on purpose.  From the way she was inefficiently wandering around, I was fairly certain she didn’t actually have a plan.  Not to mention the fact that she’d had to stop at a currency exchange center, which most people usually did at the beginning of a trip.

 

Just as I’d decided to stop trailing her and head about my business, I realized that this woman had started heading much more determinedly in the same direction.  Unless I was mistaken, and I rarely was, she was about to wander into a secret HYDRA research facility with no backup and ten bullets to ask if anyone there knew Captain America.  That situation would end one of two ways, and neither of them would be pretty.  

 

In the first, they killed her on sight or as soon as she showed them Steve’s picture.  In the second, they captured her for questioning and then probably experimentation as it was always a pain to capture new human test subjects.  If it was the first, I wouldn’t get there in time to help her anyway.  But if it was, as I thought was more likely, the second, well...  I looked down at myself and my arm and I knew I couldn’t leave a woman who, after watching her for a day, I was convinced might actually be nice to that fate.  Plus, I wanted to know why she was looking for Steve.  If she posed a threat to him, I’d take care of that threat myself.  Preferably before she gave HYDRA any information or found herself forcibly upgraded.

 

Deciding this, I ran to the train station to leave Steve a message I was sure he wouldn’t miss, then I ran to my local cover apartment and changed into my Winter Soldier gear and strapped on the entirety of my Toronto arsenal.  This was going to take some fancy footwork even with this gear to get both of us out of there alive.

 

When I slipped inside the HYDRA compound, I was quite satisfied to see a couple of dead guards at the door.  Killing those who remained, I followed the path that most of their secret laboratories had and made my way to the experimental chambers.  It wasn’t long before I could hear the screaming.  Unfortunately, the first source of the sound I came across was simply someone’s office who was observing what occurred.  His eyes bugged out of his head when he saw me, and I made him explain how to get to the girl before I killed him.  I’d gone the wrong way to start, this laboratory was set up differently, or they’d changed it when I started destroying labs.  Either way, it was going to take me much longer than planned to get there.  

 

Wordlessly I watched the monitor for a couple minutes, getting the lay of the land inside that chamber and figuring out how I’d take out everyone in it other than the woman who was currently chained naked to the table.  I had to hand it to her, they had beaten her and were starting in with the knives now and she still wasn’t telling them anything.  Deciding to help her out a little until I could get there, I set a charge as I left the office.  

 

I kicked my way into the lab where they were keeping her and gasped at the sight in front of me.  The woman was still strapped the the table and looked to be in an ever increasing amount of distress.  Around her were several empty syringes, but if it was the Serum they were trying to recreate, they’d obviously failed because the woman was bleeding profusely from some stab wounds the scientists must have inflicted to delay me on their way out.

 

Stepping up to her, I waited until her eyes focused on me, holding in a smile when she opened her mouth and said, “what are you doing here?  I wasn’t supposed to find you yet.  Find Steve, then help him find you.  Stay at home safe and let him confront you.  That was the plan.  No one gave me any phrases I can say to make you trust me.  To know I don’t mean you any harm.”

 

“You know Steve?”

 

“No, haven’t met him yet.”

 

“Then why are you looking for him?”

 

“Hired by Tony Stark to help him bring the team together.  Supposed to let him know there’s a safe place for him to stay in New York and people who want him there.  He can come or not, he’ll always have a place, and a team.  Gotta be prepared in case they need to save the world again.”  I stared at her for a few beats before she added, “there’s a place for you too.”

 

“Me?  Why?”

 

“What HYDRA did to you is wrong, and we have people who can help you if you need it.  Plus, you’re Steve’s family, and he’s theirs, so that makes you family as well.”

 

Satisfied that she was telling me the truth, I grabbed supplies from the cabinets in the room and started patching her up.  When I was satisfied that I’d done as much as I could with her external wounds, I picked up the syringes grateful when I noticed the meticulous labeling.  They’d used multiple doses of three formulations, so I grabbed one of each syringe, then turned back to where she was groaning on the table.

 

“What’s your name?”

 

“Stephanie Plum,” she groaned out, and I knew I needed to talk fast because she was fading and everything so far had taken longer than planned.

 

“Okay, Stephanie.  Steve should be here really soon, and he’s going to get you out of here and help you.  I have something I need to do, but you tell him to take you back to Manhattan and wait there.  I’ll be there soon, okay?”

 

“Avengers Tower,” she panted out, “big, flashy building.  You’ll know it when you see it.”

 

“Okay, see you there, Doll.”

 

I quickly made my way out of the room pausing when I heard her mutter, “should I be worried about the number of men who have walked away from me naked?”

 

I turned and flashed her a smile and said, “Just leaving you for the Captain!”

 

 


	7. Captain America

_**Steve’s POV** _

 

I made my way quickly to the facility, following the path that someone who almost certainly had to be Bucky left me.  For not the first time since Sam had left to research some of our leads, I wished he was here to help watch my six.  Or call in the reinforcements, not that there really were any these days.  

 

I’d yet to come across a single living soul, but there was plenty of dead bodies for me to follow creating yet another path of sorts that took me farther into the laboratory facility.  As I got closer to what I figured was the center of the building, I heard whimpering and groaning.  Cautiously, I moved toward the sound, easing the door open and peeking in quickly before dodging back in case I was shot at.  Before I’d even made it back to cover, my brain processed what I’d seen, and I rushed into the room.

 

Truthfully, the scene in front of me had me flashing back to rescuing Bucky in the HYDRA laboratory, except Bucky had been partially clothed and relatively intact.  This woman was naked and she looked like she’d been beaten and tortured.  Someone had patched her more potentially life threatening injuries up, but left her like this.  

 

I walked steadily up to her, keeping my motions smooth and, I hoped, reassuring or at least non-threatening.  When she looked at me, she sighed with relief and smiled, “I’m supposed to tell you that following’s not really Tony's style.”  I relaxed a little so she want on, “and Bruce told me he’s always angry.”

 

She was getting this out while shaking uncontrollably, so I calmly shushed her.    
  


“I have more… messages.  So you trust me.”

 

“You’re fine.  What’s your name?  How’d you wind up here?” I looked around, searching for something to cover her with and striking out.

 

“Stephanie Plum.  You can call me Steph.  Tony hired me to find the Avengers and let you know that he has a safe place for you to stay in Manhattan.  He’s getting the team together just in case, and I’ll help you find Bucky,” she stopped to groan, and I picked up the syringes, breaking off the tips and slipping them into a pocket.  Hopefully Bruce and Tony could figure out what they’d given her, and help her.  If I could get her out of here and to them fast enough.  “if I live.  Although, Bucky told me he’d come to Manhattan and you should just wait for him at the Tower-- he just needed to take care of something first, so you should be good either way.”

 

“Okay, well, I’d very much rather you live, so let’s work on getting you out of here first, then we’ll worry about Bucky, okay?  I’m going to look for a key.”

 

“More guys walking away from me naked,” she said, and I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I pretended I didn't hear.  Sure, she was naked, but I was much more concerned about the state of her injuries at the moment.  Plus, I didn't want to take advantage, so when I looked at her, I forced my mind to be as clinical as possible.

 

"Do you know what they gave you?" I asked as I frantically searched the drawers and cabinets.

 

“No idea.  They called them Serum 142, 285, and 479.  Gave me multiple doses of each, waiting to see what happened.  I think they thought I would heal or something because the first wounds they gave me hurt, but weren’t lethal and they were watching me so closely.”

 

I thought about Bucky falling from the train and surviving after he’d been experimented on by the very same group seventy years ago, and I figured she was probably right, so I told her as much.

 

“When it didn’t work they got angry, saying they’d wasted their escape time on me, so they stabbed me figuring whoever it was would stop to save me instead of going after them.  It was Bucky, then you, so they were part-right.  Bucky did stop to save me, and you don’t seem to be going after them.”

 

“Yeah, I’m not leaving you here like this, and I have a feeling Bucky will catch them sooner rather than later.  And you’re not reacting well to whatever they injected in you, so I want to get you to Manhattan ASAP.”

 

“Hey,” she choked out, her speech becoming more labored with every word, “if I don’t make it, it isn’t your fault, okay?”

 

Something seemed so wrong about her thinking she wasn’t going to survive and using her remaining time to comfort me, so I walked back over and brushed her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear.  I smiled down at her and said, “you’re going to be fine.  Now, I can’t seem to find a key, so I’m going to use this.”  I hefted up my shield to be in her line of sight, “it’s going to be scary, but I know what I’m doing.  Just try to stay still, okay?”

 

I heard rock music and the sound of Tony’s repulsors in the distance, and a storm starting to pick up as I slammed my shield into the first shackle, breaking it without hitting Steph.  I got through the next two quickly, but before I could free her of the last one, I felt electricity sizzling and watched in horror as lightning appeared out of nowhere hitting the table Steph was still on.  Without hesitating, I freed the last of her restraints with my shield and pulled her off and away from the table getting what was a minor shock myself, I’m sure, when compared to hers.

 

She started screaming like she was being murdered and convulsing, so I held her down, making sure to support her neck, hoping she wouldn’t wind up hurting herself.  As she was thrashing around, the door burst open and I looked up to find the rest of my team standing there, taking in the sight before them.

 

“Geeze. What did you do to her, Cap?” asked Tony, and Hulk roared angrily.

 

“Hulk, I need Bruce,” I commanded, then I turned to Tony.  “I didn’t do anything.  I found her chained to that table beaten and stabbed, though Bucky apparently patched her up some.  There were syringes next to her, I have them in my pocket for you to test any residue.  She was uncomfortable, but nothing like this.”

 

I was having to yell over her screams, though they did seem to be dying down.  

 

“I think they were trying to recreate the serum, and it seemed like they’d been unsuccessful.  Then a lightning bolt came out of nowhere and hit the table, so definitely don’t touch that.  That’s when this screaming and thrashing started.”

 

“Alright, let’s get her to the jet and back to the Tower and our labs as quickly as possible.”

 

I picked her up and quickly followed the others as they ran out of the building and over to a jet that materialized out of nowhere with a giant A painted on the side.  The Hulk stopped short of the jet then collapsed to the ground as Bruce, and Iron Man grabbed him up and pulled him inside before Tony started shedding his armor.  Bruce pulled on clothes then grabbed a couple of blankets to cover Stephanie.  

 

“JARVIS, get us to the Tower as fast as you can,” Tony ordered, and I pulled the syringes out of my pocket handing them over to him.  With no small amount of satisfaction, I heard the complex explode in the distance as the jet took off.

 

“That many?” Clint asked.

 

“She was still able to talk when I got there.  She said that they would inject her then wait to see if anything happened.  When nothing did, they apparently kept injecting.”

 

“Huh,” said Bruce.

 

I turned back around and saw that he’d uncovered Steph to the hips again and pulled off one of the pressure bandages.  It was soaked with blood, but the skin under it was perfectly smooth and uninjured.  As he pulled off the rest of the bandages, I noticed that the rest of her bruises and superficial cuts were also gone.  I frowned realizing the implication.

 

I turned to Sam, “We obviously didn’t get to talk much, but she seemed like a good person.  A kind person.  Is that true?”  When Sam nodded his head, I let out a sigh of relief, “Dr. Erskine thought that mattered, that the serum would amplify the good as well as the bad.  Of course this isn’t his serum, and we’ve all seen different effects based on the energy source used and formula, so who the hell knows.”

 

I dropped into a free seat and put my head in my hands.

 

“Yeah, pretty sure you’re the least at-fault person here, Cap,” Sam said, dropping into the seat next to me.  “Unless she found you and you sent her in there alone, which I’m certain you wouldn’t have done.”

 

“Ah, no.  In fact, she had to have already been here in Toronto when I arrived.  As much as I can tell, she found HYDRA while looking for me then Bucky found her.  She made it sound like he’s lucid and okay.  He told her he had to take care of something, then he’d come to us in the Tower.”

 

“So that’s either good or really bad.”

 

I nodded, watching Tony and Bruce work on Stephanie.

 

I looked over at Clint and Natasha and found them watching me so I asked them,  “Hey, how’d she wind up here alone?” very much doubting that this would have been a plan of theirs.

 

Much to my surprise, Thor sighed and sat down next to me heavily.  “Heimdall, who I will be having words with the next time I see him,” Thor shouted at the sky, “transported her here alone.”

 

Natasha explained the roll Heimdall had played in Steph’s adventures so far, and the fact that she’d probably headed out with the belief that she would be able to find me pretty quickly and that it was urgent for Heimdall to transport her as he did.

 

“Stop feeling guilty, Cap.  She knew this was dangerous when she agreed, and she’s pretty used to a dangerous lifestyle.  You would not believe the number of cars she has owned that have been blown up!”

 

I rolled my eyes sideways to look at Natasha and inclined my head, then focused back on Stephanie.  Addressing Thor I said, “you said Heimdall is trustworthy and loyal.  If you believe that, then I have to assume he saw that this could happen and that it was for the best.”

 

“You speak wisely, Captain, for I have always believed Heimdall to be the most trustworthy and loyal of every being I have had the pleasure of meeting.  And he also sees much more than that of which he speaks.  I shall continue to believe this until anything contrary has been proven,” he looked over at Stephanie and said, “I greatly regret any harm my powers have done to this shield-maiden.  I have never heard of my lightning, that I have personally conjured, traveling in such a manner.”

 

“Her body was having a tough time with the serum injected in her as it was.  She was fading fast.  Whatever else it has also done to her, I think it might have saved her life, so I’d hold off on being sorry for now.”

 

Thor clapped his big hand on my shoulder and said jovially, “I shall if you will agree to do so as well!”

 

_**Steph’s POV** _

 

“What the fuck,” I groaned out.

 

“None of that Miss Potty Mouth, you’ll make Cap use his disappointed face and no one wants to see that.”

 

“It’s fine Tony, warranted even, leave her be,” a deep, commanding voice said.

 

I pried one eye open a tiny bit and saw half the team, including a man I recognized as Steve Rogers, aka Captain America looking at me with a very concerned expression.  I turned my head and saw the rest of the team on the other side of the bed, including Tony.  I closed my eyes as I frantically searching my mind, trying remember what had happened.  Heimdall.  Canada.  Warehouse that turned out to be a lab.  HYDRA.  Torture.  Needles.  Then it started to get fuzzy.  I think I saw Bucky?  How did I get out of there?  Was I dreaming? I tried moving and found myself tethered still, so I must have been dreaming just now.  The team wasn’t here, I was still in that lab and Lead Scientist would probably start experimenting on me any minute now!

 

“Steph!” Came Natasha’s voice, and I felt a small but firm hand gripping my chin.  I opened my eyes and saw her green ones staring back at me, “I need you to try to remain calm, okay?  We’re back in Manhattan; you’re in the Tower.  You’re going to be okay.  Once you’ve calmed down, we’ll release the restraints, alright?  You were lashing out when Tony, Bruce, and some medical staff were working on you and we couldn’t let you hurt anyone.”

 

I nodded my head slowly and forced myself to relax, noticing the fast beeping of what must be a heart monitor slowed as I did so.  

 

“When I felt the restraints, I thought they still had me.  I don’t remember anything after the needles.  What did they give me?”

 

I saw Bruce next to me wince at the information about why I freaked out, so he quickly stepped forward and started undoing the restraints.

 

“So just no one is going to listen to the “don’t touch Steph until we’re sure she’s not going to electrocute you, rule?” Clint said dryly.  

 

“Electrocute?” I whimpered while trying very, very hard to remain calm, proud of myself when there was only a slight spike in the heart monitor.  At that point everyone seemed to be trying to avoid my gaze, and Bruce seemed to be trying to figure out what to say, while also not meeting my gaze.

 

Captain America had jumped up when he heard the pick up in my heart rate, but backed off when it went right back down, nodding his head.  When no one else spoke up, he cleared his throat and looked me dead in the eyes before launching into an explanation, “from what you were able to tell me when I first found you, HYDRA knew someone was breaking into the base, so they injected you with a bunch of serum.  I brought the syringes back, and Tony and Bruce have been trying to figure out exactly what was in them.  At any rate, when you were injected, they didn’t seem to do anything, so they kept injecting you with more looking for a result.  They didn’t see one so they stabbed you hoping it would slow whoever was coming after you down.  That was Bucky, he patched you up before leaving you, knowing my arrival was imminent and I’d get you out.  When I found you, you weren’t doing all that well.  I was worried you were going to die before I could get you to Manhattan.”

 

“We think that without a power source to activate the serum, it was basically shutting down your system.  Taking energy from within instead of an external source.  Dr. Erskine and my father used Vita-Rays to activate Cap’s serum; Bruce used gamma radiation for his.” Tony cut in.

 

“Then the rest of the crew arrived,” the Captain continued, “and Thor brought one of his lightning storms with him.  Somehow the lightning traveled through the building and hit you and the table you were on, providing the energy needed to activate the serum.”

 

“Okay, that fills in some of the gaps, Captain, so thanks for that.”

 

“You can call me Steve, and you’re welcome.”

 

“But I repeat, electrocute?”

 

This time I didn’t even bother to focus on anyone else, since he’d done a good job telling it to me straight so far.  “I don’t understand the science, that’s not really my place, but you definitely electrocuted one of the nurses.  She wouldn’t come back after that either.”

 

My eyes widened and I stared at him, “is she okay?”

 

“Hairs a little frizzier, but she’s fine otherwise,” Darcy contributed with a grin from the foot of my bed.  “You’d think being a nurse at the Avengers Tower medical unit, she’d be made of a little sterner stuff!”

 

“You shouldn’t be in here, we don’t yet know if it is safe,” boomed Thor, causing me to jump a little.

 

Darcy just patted him on the shoulder and said, “relax, Steph likes me, right Steph?”  I gave her a big smile and nodded my head enthusiastically, so she returned it and then said to the room while holding up a bag, “plus, I brought her some actual clothes.  So you all scram, and I’ll get her situated, then you can come back and play ‘Just How Super Are You’, like I know you’re all eager to do.”

 

My eyes widened when she mentioned clothes and I did a quick mental evaluation of my body, “am I naked right now?!  WHY AM I NAKED?” I screamed out.

 

Steve coughed and immediately ducked out of the room.

 

“Never knew Cap to be that much of a chicken,” Sam said, “her nakedness didn’t seem to bother him when he found her.”

 

I flushed with deep embarrassment and I could hear that damn heart monitor going off again, and Natasha just stepped right up to me and said, “it’s fine.  It’s not your fault, and it’s definitely nothing to be embarrassed about.”

 

“Yeah, seriously, Steph. You’ve got nothing to worry about,” said Tony with a grin that made me just a little uncomfortable.

 

It was Darcy, of all people, who turned to him and said, “if you don’t walk out that door right this second without saying another word, I’m going to tell Pepper you said that, and I might just embellish a little.”

 

Tony scampered out without so much as a peep and the rest of the men did the same, again, not making eye contact with me.  I started banging my head ineffectually on the bed under me until Darcy walked up and caught my head in her hand, “not ideal sure, but he has a point.  You were too skinny when you got here, and working out with Maria and Natasha certainly helped you gain back weight in all the right places and ways.   You’ve got a banging bod now, you definitely didn’t make a bad impression on anyone.”

 

“And how many times have you been naked in front of this group?”

 

“None.”

 

“And how many times have you been naked in front of someone the first time you met them?”

 

“I’m going to plead the fifth on that one.”

 

I looked at her with a surprised laugh, and Natasha added, “Clint’s seen me naked.”

 

“Yeah, whatever the deal with you two is, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that doesn’t count.  It was probably on purpose.”

 

That got me a sly smile, and I let it drop.  Holding my hands out to Darcy I said, “gimme”.

 

“Okay, we’ll start with this, but if it doesn’t work, I’ve got some other options here.”

 

As soon as I stood up, I realized that my body had changed a decent amount, If I wasn’t mistaken, I was about 5’ 10” now instead of 5’ 7” and though I had been toned up before, I was more so now.  Not overly bulky, like Steve, but my muscles, especially my thighs and biceps, were definitely bigger.  I could only imagine they’d get bigger if I started training more as well.  I looked down and sighed, of course, everything gets bigger except I’m still a B-cup.

 

“It’s a nice set of B’s, Steph,” said Natasha, openly laughing at me, “but what do you say we work on finding you some clothes that fit?”

 

Eventually, and it was a process that actually resulted in some ripped clothes from my closet, we found some nice, soft sweatpants, a bra (that thankfully Darcy had procured lots of band sizes for), and a simple Metallica racerback tank that fit.  It was all a little snug, but it did fit, which was good enough for me at the moment.  Sitting on the bed, tying my gym shoes on my feet, I kept my head down when I heard the door open and the rest of the team file back into the room.  Thank God my feet hadn’t grown too, I would probably cry if I had to give up all those shoes Pepper had put in my closet.  It was bad enough I was going to have to replace all the clothes.

 

“Thank goodness the shoes fit still, I don’t think the Avengers budget could handle that.  And surely not all the clothes,” Tony said, cheekily.  I looked up and rolled my eyes before standing up to my new height and fixing him with my best attempt at a blank stare.  From his sympathetic look, or as close as Tony could get, I had a feeling I just came off looking sad.  Still, he looked me over head to toe and sighed, “all the clothes it is then.”

 

“Steph,” Bruce said hesitantly, “I’m not sure you should be up yet.”

 

I rolled my eyes, and said, “I appreciate your concern, Bruce, but I feel fine.  A little hungry, but otherwise, fine.”  So saying, my stomach decided to make its presence known and I flushed a little, “lunch or whatever meal first, ‘How Super Are You’ second?”

 

Darcy clapped in delight and Natasha pointed a finger between the two of us, “we are not calling it that.”

 

“You’re no fun!” I replied, sticking my tongue out at her and smiling at the rolled eyes I got in return.  

 

As we filtered out of the room and to the elevator, I found myself walking next to Steve, so I exchanged a look with him out of the corner of my eye, “You did this to yourself on purpose?  I feel weird.”

 

“You’ll get used to it. And I did it under much more structured, scientific conditions.  Though no one knew what it would actually do, so there was still that similarity.”

 

“You’re crazy.”

 

He shrugged and flashed me one hell of a smile, “probably."

 

“How long was I out?”

  
“Two days.”

 

“That seems… like it shouldn’t have happened?”

 

“Well, as far as we know, no one has used lightning on a serum patient before, and that can’t have been great.  We were worried you wouldn’t remember anything when you woke up.  Plus you had at least three completely different formulations in you so, that’s different as well.  Not to mention that I’ve been out for extended periods of time before; we think it is caused by the body choosing to keep me unconscious to heal faster.  Your body was, in all likelihood, doing something similar.”

 

“That’s me.  Always got to be different,” I muttered.

 

“Being different... it’s not so bad.”

  
Well, I suppose he would know, I thought to myself, and maybe that would come in handy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! I love how it worked out that this is the Christmas chapter.


	8. New Limits

_**Natasha’s POV** _

__

Not that I would ever admit it to his face, but Steve was right.  It was much easier to work in a team, especially when everyone had the same mission and goal.  Of course, in this case, Steve and Steph weren’t on the team because Steve and Steph were the mission.  Regardless, everyone else was in on it, so as we left the medical room Steph had been recovering in, we all managed to group up and start conversations such that those two were left walking and talking together.

 

If I’d thought they were well suited before Steph’s transformation, they looked even more so now.  They were like real-life Barbie and Ken dolls except slightly more anatomically correct and Stephanie had the darker hair.

 

“We may not have to do much,” Clint whispered, and I gave him a look that clearly told him to shut up because they could probably both hear us if they tried while responding with a shrug.

 

“We’ll see,” was the message I silently passed him.

 

My primary concern was the fact that Steve took it really hard whenever someone was harmed in an effort to recreate his serum, especially when it was done against their will.  Bruce had once confided in me that Steve had apologized to him for the Other Guy, which made a sad sort of sense when you considered Steve’s personality, even if it did make me want to smack some sense into him.  Not everything in the world was his fault.  

 

Over the course of the two days that Steph had been unconscious in the Tower, Steve had spent a lot of time watching over her, which made me concerned that he was going to be too overrun with guilt to be friendly with her when she woke.  And the day she electrocuted the nurse, he’d killed ten punching bags before returning to her room to sit with her some more.  

 

As I watched them in the short trip up to the communal kitchen though, I was cautiously optimistic that we wouldn’t run into that particular road block.  I was sure there’d be a few more, but that one might just be missing, which was a relief.  When we got to the kitchen, we all watched as Steph took a plate and filled it with her regular amount of food.  Cap just took it out of her hands before she left the kitchen, then went and tripled her portions of everything before handing it back to her.  Steph looked down at the plate then back up at him with wide eyes, and he just laughed and said, “trust me” before winking at her and shoving her toward the living room.

 

He watched after her and when she was apparently beyond super-hearing range, he turned and hissed at me, “leave it!”

 

“What?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

 

“Don’t you try that on me.  I know you by now; I know how you think.  At least about this.  She just got out of a two day long coma after a traumatic day and is in the middle of a very strange, stressful situation!”

 

“She’s a lot tougher than you seem to give her credit for, Cap, believe me.” Sam begged, “at least apply enough pressure to keep yourself from getting Friend Zoned.”

 

“He means,” started Darcy only to be cut off by Steve.

 

“I know what that means.  How many times do I have to tell you all, I may be 96, but I’m not dead?!”

 

He filled his plate and stormed off after Steph, but I casually leaned out of the kitchen to watch with satisfaction as he sat next to her on the couch, crowding her personal space just a little bit more than I expected.

 

Sam and I looked at each other and I shrugged, “he’s definitely onto us now, but I think it worked regardless.”

 

Not saying anything more, we all got food and joined them in the living room for lunch, and, with Steph awake and seemingly healthy, we all relaxed for the first time since Toronto.  About the time we finished eating, The elevator door opened and Pepper and Jane came striding out, walking up to their respective men to smack them upside their heads before rushing Steph and pulling her into a group hug.

 

“Sorry we weren’t here sooner, no one told us you woke up!” exclaimed Jane.

 

“So we’re just all disobeying Bruce’s recommendation about not touching Steph until we know what’s going on then?” came Clint’s exasperated retort.

 

“Don’t snap at them because you’re mad at me for touching her when she was agitated earlier.  It worked and I’m fine; you’ll get over it.” I advised him, staring at him and willing him to see that I was sorry for worrying him but wouldn’t apologize because Steph had needed me in that moment.  Slowly he inclined his head and I gave him my own nod of thanks.

 

Pepper and Jane went to grab some food, and we all stayed to keep them company while they ate.  I looked over at Steph and asked, “so how do you feel now that you have some food in you, Steph?”

 

She looked off in the distance and shrugged, simply saying “fine.”  That is until Steve nudged her with his knee and gave her a pointed look.  She sighed and broke off from his gaze to turn to me, look me in the eye, and say, “weird.  Every one of my senses just feels off right now, my body is really not mine, and I keep waiting to accidentally electrocute someone even though I don’t feel… electric or anything.  I don’t like it.”

 

“Hey, look at it this way,” I said.  “Thor uses his powers to fly, maybe you’ll be able to fly and it will fulfill that lifelong dream.”

 

Steve looked at her in surprise and she shrugged, “when I was a kid, I wanted to be Wonder Woman.  Though, to be fair, the only time I tried to fly, I jumped off the neighbor’s garage and broke my wrist so I don’t think I’ll be eager to test out that theory, Natasha.”

 

“You never know until you try.”

 

“Yeah, most people don’t say that about things that end in death if you actually can’t accomplish them.”

 

“You’re probably pretty hard to kill now.”

 

The look on Stephanie’s face so clearly said “what the fuck” that I just burst out laughing gasping out, “I’m sorry, I know you try to control it, but your face is just so expressive!” When she only stared at me nonplussed before getting up and gathering her dishes to take to the kitchen, I called out, “I can teach you to fix that!”

 

Steph turned around and looked at me eagerly, “you’ll teach me the blank face?”

 

“Absolutely!” I agreed.

 

“I am so using that on Ranger, no more ESP for him!”

 

I nodded in agreement, smirking at the guys when they all asked me if that was really such a good idea.  A woman’s gotta be able to keep her secrets!

 

When Stephanie walked back in, Tony glanced at Steve nervously before saying, “speaking of, when you went missing in Toronto, you managed to push your panic button.  I’ve been able to keep Ranger at bay so far, but I’d say you should expect a visit from him and some of his men soon.”  Stephanie nodded her head then excused herself to go put her hair up.

 

Steve turned to me looking just a little disappointed and betrayed, “Is Ranger her boyfriend?”

 

“No.”

 

“Ex?”

 

“It’s complicated.  If you want to know, you’ll have to ask her.” I slid my gaze around to everyone else in the room making sure to get nods of acknowledgement from all of them that they were not to overrule me on this one.

 

“Fine.” Steve huffed out before getting up to go change into his gym clothes, the rest of us, except for Darcy, Pepper, and Jane quickly following his lead.  

 

When Stephanie came back downstairs, we’d all already gathered back in the living room and Pepper looked her over and asked, “don’t you want to change your top if you’re going to be exercising?”

 

Steph just shrugged and said, “I tried, none of those tops fit either, so this will have to do for today.  I just won’t run, and I’ll make a trip to the store tonight or tomorrow.”  She trailed off when Pepper asked JARVIS to send Steph’s measurements to her phone and then walked out while beginning to dial a number she seemed to know by heart.

 

We started to the elevator and when Darcy moved to exit with us on the gym floor, Steph blocked her with her body and said, “Please, Darcy.  We really don’t know what is going to happen.  I’d feel better if you stayed in the labs; I’m sure JARVIS can give you a live video feed.”

 

Much to my surprise, Darcy relented fairly quickly after JARVIS agreed, and I made a note to myself to keep an eye out for her sneaking back in later.  

 

_**Steph’s POV** _

 

We walked into the multi-purpose training room, and I stood awkwardly just inside the door.  

 

“Okay, anyone have a plan?”

 

“Not exactly,” Bruce spoke up, “this is kind of a new situation.  We figure you’re probably strong because, well, you look physically stronger, and we know you heal.  But we’re just not sure what else you’re capable of as we don’t know what’s going on with any of the serums or the introduction of Thor’s lightning to the mix.  We did run some tests while you were out, and although he pulls it from the sky, there do seem to be some differences between it and your standard storm-created lightning.”

 

“Okay, well, Thor is obviously immune to that, and I’d hate myself if anything happened to any of the rest of you, so maybe just he should be in here right now.”

 

Steve indicated toward his shield and said, “this can withstand Thor’s hammer and his lightning, so I’ll stay, but I agree.  Everyone else should probably leave.”  When Bruce hesitated, Steve said, “up to you, you seemed to be able to change back at will in Toronto, and it couldn’t hurt to have someone with your medical skills here just in case.”

 

Finally Bruce nodded and crossed his arms across his chest indicating that he was staying put, so everyone else filtered out and into observation.  I was frankly unsurprised when I heard Darcy’s voice greet them when they opened the door and just shook my head, sharing a smile with Steve.  

 

For the next two hours, we tested my abilities like crazy.  I refused to run without a sports bra because, ouch, so I promised I’d let them test my endurance in the morning.  Other than that though, I lifted shocking for me amounts of weight, and finally I sparred with Thor, then Steve.  Although they were both stronger and had many more years of combat training than me, we all agreed that it was possible my reflexes were actually a little faster.  

 

Try as we might, nothing seemed to cause any kind of electrical response, which was odd because everyone seemed to think it was in there.  I noticed Bruce typing away on his phone and figured that he was texting with Tony trying to come up with more tests for me.  Thor and Steve had switched in the meantime from sparring with the intention of testing me to working on my form and technique-- teaching me some moves.  When I heard a very, very faint whistling sound, I didn’t think, I just spun around, threw my hands up, and gaped when a thin bolt of lightning zapped an arrow out of the air.

 

“Barton!” Steve yelled behind me, and before he could get going, I just put my hand up, cutting him off.

 

I smiled up at where Barton was perched in the corner and shouted up at him, “that was cool, thanks!”  

 

He nodded his hand and swung himself down then walked up to me stretching his hand out.  “That was very cool, Steph.”

 

Letting my mischievous side come out, I called on the memory of how the electricity had felt flowing through me, and when my hand connected with his, I let a little bit of a shock through, satisfied when his eyes widened and he jumped back a little ways.  

 

“Don’t ever shoot at me without warning again!  You had no idea whether or not that would work.”

 

“Ouch, Steph!  How about not using your new, uncontrollable powers against me.  What if you’d misjudged that shock.  Plus, the arrow wouldn’t have hit you.”

 

“So says you, and I say that shock wouldn’t have killed you.  Also, I’m sure Bruce has an AED somewhere nearby, especially today, don’t you Bruce?”

 

Bruce was trying valiantly, but failing to hide his smile when he nodded that he did indeed have an AED nearby.

 

Clint narrowed his eyes at me, “You’ve got an evil streak in you; I don’t like this playful side when it is aimed at me.  And you,” he was pointing now, “are not allowed to play with Natasha-- the two of you together would take over the world just for fun.”

 

Natasha materialized out of nowhere and said, “it will be fun.”

 

I turned to look at Steve and, oh god, it was that disapproving Captain America face Tony had mentioned when I first woke up.  I saw what Tony meant about nobody wanting to see that now!

 

Steve laughed at that and shrugged, “probably you should be more careful until you’re sure you have that under control?”

 

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

 

“I don’t know, it was a lot of fun to watch!”

 

“Want to feel?” I asked, holding my hand out.  He started to reach out then backed off for a second, so I said, “come on, trust me. I won’t kill you, I promise.”

 

“Trust is a two-way street,” he said before grasping my hand.  I let a light current run through me to him as a little bit of a warm-up before I hit him with the shock.  He let go of my hand and locked eyes with Thor, nodding at him as he smiled and said, “Nat, you gotta feel this.  We’re going to have to think of ways to combine this with her fighting.”

 

I did the same thing with Nat, decreasing the final shock size in deference to her smaller frame, and repeated the process for Darcy as Natasha said, “I don’t know.  Maria and I can help some, but you and Thor will probably be better suited to manage her training now.”

 

“And Bucky, when he gets here,” I added.  Everyone looked at me in surprise, so I said, “I remember bits and pieces of that.  It’s slowly starting to come back of me, at least that much when the serum hadn’t quite taken hold yet.  Sorry I don’t remember meeting Steve or seeing the rest of you though; hopefully I’ll remember that soon enough.”

 

“That’s okay, Steph,” Tony said kindly, “but I don’t think you should count on Barnes being around any time soon.  We’ll make sure you’re completely rehabbed, then we can start the search again.  Sound good?”

 

I opened my mouth to say that if Bucky said he’d come, he’d come, but JARVIS interrupted with a well-timed, “Excuse me, Sir. Mr. Barnes is in the Tower lobby and he is insisting on seeing either you or Captain Rogers immediately.”

 

_**Bucky’s POV** _

 

I stood in the lobby of what was definitely an insanely over-the-top, fancy tower waiting impatiently and pacing back and forth.  They’d cleared the lobby out of anyone who wasn’t a security guard, and those guards were standing pretty much as far away from me as they could while still maintaining some kind of perimeter.  I knew I could take them out, but instead of focusing on how I would do so, all I could think about was the information I’d managed to find and whether or not Stephanie Plum as still alive.  

 

I’d been Bucky Barnes instead of The Winter Soldier for two months now, but I’d refrained from letting Steve find or make contact with me because I’d needed just a little bit of solitude to make sure I’d completely patched my psyche back together.  The last thing I’d wanted was to come back only to have a relapse and hurt Steve even more than I had when I wasn’t myself in DC.  I’d also wanted to go around and take care of anyone who remained that was responsible for Soldier’s creation or imprisonment.

 

But if this woman who, in the few minutes of interaction I’d had with her, had given me an impression of someone who was caring and full of life died because of me that would be the first truly innocent life on Bucky Barnes’s karmic balance and I didn’t want that to be the case.  When the elevator doors opened and I saw Steve, I rushed forward plaintively saying, “is she still alive?  You need to expose her to some sort of power source to feed the serum.  I don’t know why they didn’t do that in the lab, but that’s what everything I’ve found says!”

 

Even before he could open his mouth to respond, he was smiling and that helped me relax a little.  What helped even more was when a woman I barely recognized pulled herself free of the grasp of another man in the elevator and walked confidently forward, side-stepping the arm that Steve held out to try to stop her.  

 

“Stephanie Plum?” I asked, hardly believing my eyes.

 

She smiled back at me and pulled me into a hug, “Thanks for saving my life,” she whispered.  “We figured out the energy thing completely by accident.”

 

I couldn’t remember the last time someone had held me like this, so I soaked it in for just a minute before stepping back from her and walking over to Steve.

 

“I’m so sorry; it wasn’t me, I swear.  I’m all better now, but I know you won’t believe me.  Do what you gotta do, Punk.”  I held my arms up to him with my wrists together, expecting to be shackled in some way, but much to my surprise, Steve just smacked them out of the way and pulled me into a hug as well.  The last of the tension I’d felt while waiting in this lobby eased out of me at his acceptance and I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but a tear or two may have escaped my eyes.  It felt so good to have my brother back.  When we pulled back, each clearing our throats and slapping the other on the shoulder, I noticed that everyone was looking pointedly away from us and rolled my eyes, laughing when I saw Stephanie peeking over her shoulder.

 

Steve cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention, and they slowly walked forward.  

 

“Okay, everyone, this is James Buchanan Barnes--”

 

“Bucky is fine,” I cut in.

 

“Right, Bucky.  Bucky, you’ll probably recognize these two, this is Natasha Romanoff and Sam Wilson.”

 

I winced, but met their eyes as I shook their hands and said, “sorry for trying to kill you.”  Surprisingly both just brushed it off and told me that they were happy to see me as myself and they didn’t hold the Soldier’s actions against me.

 

Next I got introduced to Tony Stark, who relaxed when I told him I wasn’t the one who killed his parents.  After that it was Tony’s fiancee, Pepper who’d arrived after the rest, Bruce, Thor, Jane, Clint, and last but not least a breathtakingly beautiful dame named Darcy.  When she held out her hand, I brought it up to my lips for a kiss instead of shaking it.

 

“Pleasure to meet you, Darcy.  What’s a beautiful woman like yourself doing with a crew like this?” I asked while flashing her a smile that I was so glad I’d found again when I saw her melt just a little before my eyes.

 

“Oh you know, a little of this, little of that.  Mostly make sure the scientists feed themselves, but I help out wherever I’m needed.  I gotta tell you, Dude, this look,” she nodded at me while waving her hand from my head to my toes, “much better than that whole psycho homeless killer vibe you had going in the pictures I saw from D.C.”

 

Steve let out a strangled noise, and I just tilted my head back and laughed, “yes, well, HYDRA didn’t really care what I looked like, as long as I killed when and where they pointed.”

  
I noticed the security guards still shifting nervously, especially at the mention of D.C., so I was grateful when Pepper stepped forward and said, “why don’t we show you to the living quarters upstairs.  There’s some shared living spaces and we have a suite of rooms set aside for you.”


	9. Moving On

_**Steve’s POV** _

 

Having Bucky in the Tower was a huge relief, both because I knew he was safe and because I had gotten sick of being on the road and hadn’t been looking forward to heading back out in search of him.  Although I would have done so, I was glad not to need to.  Despite my best efforts to not get my hopes up, I’d allowed what Stephanie had said to me inside of that laboratory to give me hope that the Bucky Barnes I once knew and thought of as my brother was not lost to me forever.

 

But when the first thing he’d done was to frantically try to find out if Steph was okay, and help her if not, I’d known it was going to be okay.  Somehow, despite the fact that I hadn’t really known her for a day yet, I was completely expecting it when she blew past me to greet Bucky.  After all, he really had been the one to save her from HYDRA, and he was the only one she remembered from that day.  

 

A small amount of jealousy began to fester when he held onto her for a prolonged hug in a way I’d been longing to all day, especially when I’d seen the shadows cross her eyes caused by her sudden transformation.  But I’d had no right to hold her like that, so I’d held back.  Watching them together, caused me to flashback to Sam’s “friend zone” comment earlier in the day and realize he was right-- I needed to make sure she understood that while I wasn’t pressuring her, I was interested in exploring the possibility of a romantic relationship with her.

 

Watching Bucky interact with Darcy, however, had assuaged at least a little of my fear of losing Steph before I even had a chance with her.  We showed Bucky to his rooms and, after promising to have JARVIS wake him for dinner, left him to settle in and rest when he told us that he’d been awake and tying up loose ends since he left Steph in that laboratory in Toronto.

 

After taking the time to get myself cleaned up after my earlier workout, I stopped at my desk and roughly sketched out Steph smiling mischieviously like she had been earlier after she shocked Clint.  Promising myself I’d flesh it out more later, I walked out of my apartment intending to go downstairs and dig up a snack or see if anyone was hanging out.  I pulled up short, however, when I saw Steph scrunched up on the couch in the living room of our floor.  Realistically, I’d known that she was in the rooms across the way, but I hadn’t really thought through the implications of that.  I approached slowly, being sure to make a little noise because she wasn’t looking in my direction.  She had a blanket around herself, and  her feet up on the couch, resting her head on her knees.  

 

I walked around her to sit across from her on the coffee table, my legs shoulder width apart with my elbows on my knees.  I put my hand under my chin and stared at her for a minute until she looked up at me.

 

“You okay?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“What’s going on?”

 

I waited patiently as she chewed on her lip, “I’m just trying to figure out what happens next.”

 

“In what way?”

 

“I mean, I found you all.  You’re here, so that’s what I was hired to do.  Which I guess means it is time to go back to Trenton and my bounty hunting.  And I’ll certainly be better at it now, but I’m a little worried about what will happen if they shoot at me or surprise me in some way.  I mean, I have control when I’m focusing, but I’m worried about what will happen with a snap reaction.  What if it hadn’t just been Hawkeye earlier, what if it had been multiple people.  Do I have some kind of other defense mechanism that’s bigger.  I don’t want to accidentally hurt any innocent bystanders.”

 

I listened as she let out a fast paced, stress-fueled rant of all her concerns, and tried to come up with answers quickly for each and every one.  I definitely didn’t want this woman leaving, especially so soon, for selfish reasons as well as for the good of the team.  When she wound down I said, “first of all, my understanding was that you had a job offer to stay if you wanted to after you found all of us, so you don’t have to go back to bounty hunting if you don’t want to.”

 

“I’m pretty sure they just said that to get me to sign on in the first place.  They don’t actually need me; I mean, you met JARVIS.  There’s nothing I could do and no one I could find that he couldn’t.”

 

“Didn’t Tony try for like two months to find all of us, using JARVIS, which he invented, before you came in?”

 

“Yeah, but, still, JARVIS did most of the work.”

 

“I’m sure that’s not true; you’re a team.  And, things are different now anyway.  Not only do you just belong with this group because I can tell you’ve wound your way into everyone’s hearts, but I mean, you have powers now.  There will be battles where we need every advantage we can get and you’re definitely an advantage-- and one no one knows about or expects yet, so we’ll have an element of surprise at least the first time out.”

 

“I’m not a soldier, Cap.  I’m not good at listening to orders, and the few times I’ve done it, I have to say I really don’t like killing people.”

 

“It’s Steve, and first of all, no one on this team likes following orders.  That’s something I’ve resigned myself too,” I gave her an encouraging smile before turning completely serious, “Second of all, I don’t want to kill anyone either.  I don’t like bullies; I don’t care where they’re from.*  That’s why I started this and agreed to be part of the super soldier program-- to stop innocent people who couldn’t defend themselves from getting run over by people who are bigger and meaner than them.  And since I’ve woken up, that has definitely broadened in definition to include things like aliens.  And people who aren’t necessarily bigger but have tools and weapons that are crazier than anything I could have imagined, but Steph, it’s still so important.”

 

“I just don’t know what I can offer you.”

 

I had to force my mind from all the personal things I wanted her to offer me and focus on the team instead.  “I can think of all kinds of things.  For instance, not everything we do involves fighting, and people just naturally like you, trust you, and are honest with you.  Natasha is a master at manipulation and interrogation, but, especially now that her face is so well known, people recognize her and don’t always trust her. She may be able to get the truth out of people, but she can’t always do it and maintain friendly relations afterward.  People trust me, but most of them have some kind of weird complex about me being Captain America, and they’ll lie if they can get away with it and it will keep from disappointing me or living up to standards that I swear I don’t hold anyone to,” I paused, gauging how much of this was hitting home, and when it seemed like it was, I continued.

 

“We can’t really send Bruce into a lot of situations because, let’s face it, the Hulk is always a concern, even though he’s gotten better about keeping that under control.  Clint has the same problem Natasha has.  People don’t know what to think of Thor, but he’s intimidating and kind of an alien, so they generally don’t tell him much.”

 

“And Tony just pisses people off,” Stephanie interjected, and I couldn’t stop my chuckle at that.  

 

“True.  And, it will take a while before people don’t piss their pants when they see Bucky on the street, let alone have him talking to them.”  When I saw the look on her face, I rolled my eyes, “oh come on, I can’t possibly have offended you, and trust me, I know how to curse.  I just generally try to uphold the Captain America persona in public because these days it seems like there’s always someone watching in some form or another. Wouldn’t do to have a video of Captain America cursing show up on YouTube.  Yes.  I know what YouTube is.”

 

This time I got the full smile from Steph before she said, “you’ve still got Sam.  He’s got that whole counselor/therapist thing going on, so you can’t tell me people don’t like and trust him.”

 

“Well that’s true, but he’ll need backup.  And he’s just human.  There will be times, once you’re trained, when it will be better to send in someone with your advantages.  And I promise, we’ll all help you train.  No one is sending you out until you’re ready, unless we’re talking like Chitauri level, the world is ending kind of thing.”

 

“And if the world is ending, might as well give it a go because I’m in trouble if you fail anyway, right?”

 

“Right.” I agreed, then I only hesitated for a second before I reached over and picked up one of her hands, holding it in both of my mine and rubbing it with one of my thumbs.  I waited until she looked up at me, and if I wasn’t mistaken she was a little flushed which gave me the courage to say, “and Steph, all that and the team aside, I’d really like the chance to get to know you.”

 

This time her eyes widened and she looked at me shyly before her full smile broke out, “you know what, Steve?”  I held my breath shook my head, relieved when she finished with, “I think I’d like that.”

 

“And the rest of it?”

 

“If everyone else agrees, then I’ll stay for now.  Can’t hurt to see how the training goes and if I’m actually useful.  Plus, I’m not going to lie, that apartment over there,” she used her thumb to point over at her apartment, “way nicer than my apartment in Trenton.  And no one has blown it up yet!”

 

“Now,” I said, leaning back and crossing my feet on the couch next to her, “tell me about this Ranger person.”

 

I watched as she flushed before going a bit pale, “I don’t know, Steve.  I feel like that’s probably at least a second date conversation, maybe even third.  Definitely not pre-first date.”

 

“Hmm, I don’t supposed our first meeting counts, even if you were naked,” I wiggled my eyebrows outrageously at that, satisfied when she laughed instead of freaking out, “since you don’t remember it.  Although, I’m hoping I can take you out to dinner tonight, so maybe you’ll tell me after.  Plus, what are the chances he’s going to show up here and I’m going to meet him before we make it to date two or three?”

 

“Was that you asking me on a date?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Alright, I can do dinner tonight.  Though, I have pretty much no clothes that fit me right now, so is there anywhere we can go in sweats?”

 

“You know, I think I have the perfect idea.  Why don’t you give me an hour to take care of a few things and then I’ll meet you back here.  And you’re perfect just the way you are, especially  for this date, okay?”

 

After giving her hand a quick kiss, I wandered downstairs and was greeted by the smiling faces of everyone except for Bucky, Pepper, and Thor.

 

“Seriously, JARVIS?”

 

“I apologize, Captain Rogers, but since you didn’t enable privacy protocols and you were in one of the common rooms, I could not keep them from watching.”

 

I looked over at Jane and asked, “Thor go back to Asgard to talk to Heimdall?”

 

“Among other things, he won’t be back for a couple days at least.”

 

Nodding my head to acknowledge the information, I otherwise ignored everyone as I wandered into the kitchen.  As I started pulling out ingredients, I was grateful once again that the Tower chefs who provided us with food on demand also seemed to keep fresh, prepped basic ingredients in our fridge at all time.  Within a minute of stepping into the kitchen, I had meat browning with some onions and garlic.  Everyone had followed me into the kitchen and they were watching my every move avidly.  

 

Finally Clint piped up with, “so, whatcha making, Cap?”

 

I quickly laid out four large baking dishes as I mixed large batches of everything I needed together.

 

“Lasagna,” I said.  “With garlic bread and salad. I’ll fill these three here for you all to share if you take turns going up there and convincing her that she doesn’t need to worry about her clothes and that she should stay on and join the team.”

 

“Of course she’s going to join the team,” said Tony flippantly.

 

“Were you not listening?  She said, ‘if everyone else agrees,’ so you have to agree and let her know you agree before she stays.  Jane, if you think Thor wants her on the team, I’d appreciate it if you’d try to convince her of the fact as well.”

 

“He does want that; he told us as much,” Darcy replied for Jane, “I’ll help.  We’ll take second shift after Natasha.”

 

I turned around surprised that Darcy was ordering Natasha around only to see that Natasha wasn’t there, so she must have already gone upstairs.  

 

Quickly layering the three lasagnas, I slid them into the oven just as Natasha walked back in and the next group went upstairs.  I pulled more ingredients out of the fridge, setting them on the cutting board and handing a knife to Natasha, “salad size.  I don’t need them minced into a paste, okay?”

 

She nodded her head in acknowledgment and set about, hands flying as I checked the lasagna pans one more time then walked quickly to the elevator.  I stopped by Pepper’s office first, and when her assistant immediately showed me in after calling to see if she was free, I was grateful.

 

“Thanks for seeing me, Pepper, I won’t take up much of your time.”

 

“It’s no problem, Steve.  What can I help you with?”

 

I rubbed my hand on the back of my neck and said, “I asked Steph out to dinner tonight.”  I was cut off by Peppers squeal of delight and couldn’t help smiling at her, “it’s been kind of a crazy day, plus she was worried about not having any clothes, so I thought I’d make dinner and we could eat it up on the landing pad.  Would it be possible to have a table with maybe some candles and a tablecloth set up.  And one off to the side for me to set the food on?”

 

“Sure, when do you need it?”

 

I looked at my watch and grimaced, “forty minutes?  Sorry, I should have come down and asked you for this before I started dinner.”

 

She just waved off my concern, “it’ll be ready in ten.  Just candles?”

 

“Yeah, I’m going to head down to the florist on the corner right now, and I’ll grab a bouquet of flowers for her before I finish up dinner.  I’ll get out of your hair now; thanks again.”

 

“It’s no problem, Steve; you can stop by anytime.  And tell Steph she’ll have new clothes tomorrow?  Actually, why don’t you leave that to me, she’ll just argue, and I don’t  want to start you guys off with a fight.”

 

I smiled, “oh, and I’ve got everyone working on convincing her to stay and be a part of the team,” I added.

 

Pepper pointed at her computer screen and said, “I’m just writing up a new contract now.  What we had prepared for her is kind of antiquated now with the powers and strength and stuff.”

 

“You still have the contract you were planning to give her?”

 

“Yes, why?”

 

“You might want to take that to her as well when you talk.  She thinks you were making that up to get her to sign the short-term contract.”

 

Pepper sighed and said, “we’ll have to work on that self confidence of hers or the press and the public will eat her alive.”

 

I nodded in agreement before bidding Pepper goodbye again and letting her know about the lasagna that would be ready in half an hour if she wanted some.

 

Forty minutes later, I had placed the food upstairs and was nervously fidgeting in the elevator as JARVIS took me back to our floor.  When I’d originally gone to the florist, I’d planned to get her one of those big, beautiful bouquets of flowers, but I’d changed my mind and I hoped I wasn’t being too presumptuous for a first date.  The elevator doors opened and I saw Steph waiting for me in the living room, so I walked forward pulling from behind my back a single red rose and holding it out to her.  

 

_**Thor’s POV** _

 

“Heimdall, a word!” I declared the second I stepped out of the Bifrost.

 

Heimdall stood before me unflinching as I strode toward him.

 

“Heimdall, did you know what would befall Lady Stephanie when you sent her to the Midgardian land of Toronto?”

 

“Do you think that I would send her as I did if I was unsure of the fate that awaited her?  Or the fate that awaited you and your fellow warriors if I did not send her?”

 

“Then try to help me understand.”

 

“Those mortals were eager to test their experiments on someone, had the opportunity not presented itself for them to utilize Lady Stephanie, they would have used it on one of their own.  A foul man who recently did battle with the Captain.  A man who has already completed great atrocities and who, enabled with that same serum, would have done many more before you ever had a chance to stop him.  With Lady Stephanie in her present state and on your team, The Avengers will be whole and tip the balance of the fates in the direction of good.”

 


	10. First Date

_** Steph’s POV ** _

 

Was this guy for real or was I actually unconscious, this whole day had been fake, and I was dreaming?  That was all I could think until I discreetly put both arms behind my back so that I could pinch myself.  Huh.  Awake.  He looked just a little unsure of himself when he held a red rose out to me, so I smiled at him in a way I hoped was reassuring.

 

“It’s supposed to symbolize the beginning of a romantic relationship, and the promise the future holds.”

 

“You are so sweet; I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you, but I’ll take you!” I replied, pulling him down to place a careful kiss on his cheek.  Then I brought the rose up to my nose to smell it, “you know. I don’t get too many flowers from men who aren’t stalking me with what could only be deemed nefarious intentions.  I very much prefer this, thank you.”

 

Steve’s forehead wrinkled for a second, probably at the thought of me getting stalked, before he beamed down at me, “well, we’ll just have to change that then, won’t we.  Though I have to be honest, I don’t think my intentions could be considered completely innocent either.”

 

He’d reached one of his large, warm hands out to place on the small of my back while guiding me to the elevator as I laughed and responded, “Well, what’s the fun of dating if you don’t at least hope for a little action at some point?”

 

I was surprised when I felt the elevator start going up, rather than down as I’d expected.  When the doors opened up to the landing pad and a gorgeous table set up, I couldn’t help but clap my hands in delight and grin up at him.  With one hand still on my back, he brought me over to the table, helping me into my chair.  As Steve went over to fix us both a plate, he said over his shoulder, “I would have been happy to take you out dressed like that, but since you seemed nervous about it, I figured this would be a good alternative.”

 

“I love it, thanks!  Think we need to worry about some friendly spying because we’re staying in the Tower?”

 

“Probably, but I made them three extra lasagnas, so I’m hoping that’ll buy us at least an hour.”

 

I had just put a forkful of lasagna in my mouth, so I covered my mouth with my hand as I blurted out, “No way, you made this?”

 

“Yes.  It’s nothing fancy, but I only had an hour so I had to work with what we had in the kitchens.”

 

“This is really good, Steve.  And trust me, I’ve managed to burn the pre-made, frozen Stouffer’s Mac and Cheese that I use to cheer myself up, so you’re getting tons of points right now for having made this from scratch.”  I took a couple more bites before asking, “where’d you learn to cook?”

 

“Well, my dad died in WWI before I was born, so my mom was pretty much always working.  There wasn’t much I could do as a kid and just being so sick, so I tried to help out in little ways around the apartment.  Cooking was one of the things I could do to make her life easier, and it would put a smile on her face when she’d had a long day.”  He paused for a few moments, lost in memories before continuing, “then, when I woke up from the ice a few years ago, it just seemed easier than going out.  Especially after The Battle of New York when it seemed everyone would recognize me.  And Sam’s a pretty decent cook as well, so we traded off while we were on the road.  Certainly didn’t need to be going out any more than necessary and getting recognized after SHIELD’s fall.  Now, from what I’ve gathered, Tony has chefs on stand-by deliver pretty much anything we want whenever we want, but something just seemed right about cooking this for you tonight.  Like maybe it would help cheer you up after a long day.”

 

I reached over and grabbed his free hand with mine giving it a squeeze, “Well, it is doing a fantastic job.  This is delicious, thank you for making it for me.  Much to my mother’s absolute dismay I’m pretty much hopeless in the kitchen, and actually at most things ‘domestic’.  My specialty is my peanut butter and olive sandwich.”  Catching the look on Steve’s face, I laughed.  “I also do a mean barely cooked cookie.”

 

“With dough from frozen?” Steve teased with a twinkle in his eye.

 

“Of course.  Trust me, it is better for everyone that way.  And sometimes, I just eat the dough.”

 

I asked him some more questions about his childhood, his mother, and Bucky which he answered in great detail which surprised me until I realized that for him it really wasn’t all that long ago.  After he’d been talking for a while, he switched the conversation back to getting to know me,  “So, as previously discussed, you don’t spend your free time cooking.  What do you like to do?”

 

“Honestly, I haven’t had that much free time since I became a bounty hunter.  Even when I wasn’t really making enough to get by, there were still low-bond skips to go after.  And sometimes I’d help Ranger with a case or a client.”

 

“So, Ranger is your… boss?”

 

“You’re not going to let that one go, are you?”

 

“If you want me to, I will, but it sounds like this guy is part of your life to the point where you have a panic button that notifies him if you push it.  And he quite possibly could show up here any minute, so I’m curious and I’d kind of like to know what the situation is.”

 

“That’s fair.  He’s not my boss, though he is CEO of a security company based out of Trenton and I’ve done some odd jobs for him here or there.  Largely when either he needs a woman to distract or lure someone or when he knows I need the money.  Beyond that, it’s complicated…” I trailed off trying to gather my thoughts.

 

“You really don’t have to tell me, Steph.  I don’t want to pry where you aren’t ready to share with me yet.”  He was studying my face carefully, and I as distressed as I felt, I must have also looked it.

 

“No, you deserve to know.  We’re on a first date that I’m really hoping will be followed by many more, and you’re right he could show up really out of nowhere right this second and I wouldn’t be surprised.  I’m just trying to figure out where to start, but I guess in for a penny in for a pound, right?”

 

“Right.  I want to know everything about you that you’re willing to tell me.  I promise, you’re not going to shock me and send me running.”

 

“Well, not literally anyway, I already did that this afternoon,” I joked at him, lightening the mood a little.  Finally, I blew out a breath and said, “Alright.  So, the beginning…”

 

I started by telling him about my childhood in Trenton, my inability to fit into the “Burg” mold or really please my mother in any way.  I even told him about playing choo-choo with Morelli as a kid before losing my virginity to him as a teen.  

 

“When I finished my degree in business, I met Dickie Orr, a lawyer who had graduated from Newark Law, had a nice car, the works.  We started dating, my mother actually seemed pleased with me, and when he proposed, I agreed to marry him.  Almost before the ink had even dried on our marriage license, which was signed after a truly hideous wedding that my mother planned, I caught him cheating on me.  I think he must have cheated on me with half of New Jersey before I found out and divorced him.  It was definitely not a friendly divorce, nor have been any of our interactions since.”  Steve winced at that.  “I lost my job, and when I was about to lose everything, I convinced my cousin to let me become a bounty hunter for his bail bonds company.  His office clerk, Connie, convinced Ranger to basically mentor me and make sure I didn’t get myself killed.  My first case was Joe Morelli, which I was glad to take because I was still angry about the whole writing about me on the walls of public places thing.”

 

“I’m sorry, what?  He wrote about… your relations… on the walls of public places?”  I nodded, and Steve continued asking, “and then he left town without another word?”  When I again nodded, he let out a low whistle before indicating for me to continue.

 

“I caught Joe, and proved he was innocent, but unfortunately that led to us being in an on-again-off-again relationship over the next couple years.  Unsurprisingly, I’m sure, really nothing about that relationship was healthy.  I had big commitment issues stemming from the whole Dickie fiasco.  Joe had just as big of commitment issues and some mild anger issues, and, well, we fought all the time.” I started chewing on my lip at this point, “During one of our off stretches, I slept with Ranger.  That pattern continued, and although we never slept together at any time when Joe and I had an agreement to be exclusive, which was honestly almost never, Ranger did like to apply pressure if the opportunity struck, and I wasn’t great at making sure those opportunities didn’t exist.”

 

I spared a glance at Steve and when he didn’t seem like he was about to run for the hills, I finished it, “Ranger would tell me from time to time a lot of confusing things.  He’d say that he loved me… in his own way. He’d tell me that sometimes he thought about making a home or that if Morelli was ever gone too long, he’d step in.  Morelli and I broke up for good about a year ago when he found out he was going to be transferring over to California and I declined to join him.  After he’d been gone a couple months, I approached Ranger to see if he actually wanted to be in a relationship.  He reiterated that relationships weren’t his thing, and told me he was only interested in casual sex.  I declined, and that was that.  Things were tense for a while, but I’ve held resolute, and he has stopped trying to push.  We’re still very good friends, and I think he’ll always care about me and worry about me in his own way, but anything approaching a romantic relationship is done.  I promise.”

 

I was staring at Steve, pleading with him to believe me, and he smiled and ran a finger down my cheek, “I believe you.  Thank you for telling me that, even though I’m sure you’d rather not have.  Don’t worry, I’m not upset or judging you in any way.  Though I do have to say it sounds like you have shit taste in men.”

 

“Until now,” I interrupted with a smile.

 

“I’d like to think so.  And goodness knows I’ve had my own share of physical-only relationships over the past couple years.  Don’t look so surprised, I have needs and I wasn’t in a place to be emotionally tied down before.  But I am now, so I want to be clear, I want to try for the whole thing here, Steph.  Not just some casual thing, and I’ll expect that we’re both exclusive for as long as we’re together.”

 

Managing to keep my bafflement for how I got so lucky to myself, I told him, “that sounds good to me; I’m ready for that too.”

 

With all of that no longer between us, and a clear understanding of how seriously we were both taking this date and budding relationship, we were both able to relax into the date more.  I told him stories of my many escapades as a bounty hunter, and he shared some of his funnier Captain America stories-- both of his time on the bonds tour, and his time actually acting as a hero.  It seemed that those usually were the result of bad intel and surprising unsuspecting people.

 

As the evening dragged into night, it became much too cold, especially with the breeze that was picking up, to continue to stay out on the landing pad.  When Steve got close to pull out my seat for me, I couldn’t resist any more, so I slid my hand up behind his neck as I stood and pulled him down for a gentle kiss.  Much to my relief, his hands slid around my waist and he dragged me closer while deepening the kiss just a little.  If I thought Ranger was a good kisser, I’d been somewhat mistaken.  Compared to this kiss, Ranger was just adequate, which was probably a compatibility thing more than being a disparagement of Ranger’s skill.  But since I’d thought my chemistry with Ranger was off the charts, it was quite the pleasant surprise to find out that there was a whole additional level waiting for me.  Pulling back, I gave him a couple more quick kisses, then beaming up at him I said, “Thank you.  This was the best date I’ve ever been on.”

 

“Oh, I’m sure I can do better than this.”

 

“Well, I look forward to any and all attempts you want to make.  Now, what do you say we take all these dishes downstairs, face the inquisition, and see how Bucky’s doing?”

 

_**Steve’s POV** _

 

I managed, just barely, to make it through the elevator ride without just throwing the dishes on the ground and dragging Steph to me for more kisses.  Through an unspoken agreement, we were both aware of the fact that we probably should take it slow.  At least for tonight because it really had been a long and crazy day for her.  In the meantime, I was going to have one hell of a time thinking about anything other than that kiss until I managed to steal the next one.

 

When the elevator doors opened, I just smiled and shook my head at the sight of everyone, sans Thor, sitting in the living room and watching us with eager expressions.  I nudged Steph to walk out in front of me, and we moved quickly to the kitchen, which was open to the rest of the floor, working together to load the dishes into the dishwasher.  Before we moved on, Steph walked over to the freezer and pulled out a couple packages of cookie dough, holding them up and tilting her head to the side in question.  Thinking about how she’d told me that was one of the only things she could successfully make in the kitchen, I nodded my head enthusiastically.  While she read the instructions and turned on the oven to preheat, I walked to the fridge and pulled out a couple beers.  I opened them carefully before handing one to Steph grabbing her free hand with mine.  Casually, we walked back to where the team was waiting and sat next to each other on one of the couches.  I watched, highly amused, and waited to see who would break first.

 

“How’s it going, Bucky?  Did you get at least a little sleep?” Steph asked.

 

Bucky looked equally amused when he replied, “Things are going well, and yes, I got some rest.  And I had a nice dinner, which also helped.”

 

We lapsed back into comfortable silence until Darcy finally broke, and frankly, that took much longer than expected.  “Stephanie Plum, if you don’t tell us how the date went right this second, I will get out my taser, so help me Thor!”

 

Steph let out a delighted laugh then looked over at me, “how effective do you think tasers are on me these days?”  
  


I shrugged and said, “Probably not all that much.  I’ve been on the business end of one of those SHIELD taser rods before, and it didn’t take me down.  That being said, it was quite unpleasant, and I’d probably recommend avoiding it if at all possible.”

 

“Yeah, I’ve gotten hit by a taser before too, though that was before this week, so it did knock me out. Although, who knows, maybe now it will charge me or something!” she turned this time addressing Darcy and said, “the date was good.”

 

I hid my smirk at Darcy’s reaction to Steph not elaborating any more by taking a sip of my beer.  Before I could respond to Sam’s, “can’t have been that good if you’re back up here already,” that had Hill smacking him upside the head, Steph fired back her response.

  
“Actually, it was hands down the best date I’ve ever been on,” then she nuzzled into me a little, so I took the hint and let go of her hand to drape my arm on the sofa behind her.  Everyone continued to watch us like we were animals in the zoo for a few minutes until the oven beeped and Steph got up to walk back into the kitchen.  I watched her go, and the rest of the women follow her until I heard the quiet hum of their talking start in the kitchen.

 

I snorted at the rest of the guys who were still staring at me, “way to ‘be cool’, guys.”

 

“I’m sorry, did the 100 year old dude just tell us that we’re not cool?” asked Tony in what I was pretty sure was mock outrage.

 

“I’m 96.  And, if the shoe fits…”

 

Tony was sputtering, but Bruce inclined his head and pointed out, “we did just sit here and stare at them.”

 

“You both held up remarkably well under the scrutiny,” added Clint.

 

I shrugged and said, “we had a good time.  It would probably had been awkward if that wasn’t the case.”

 

Tony held up a finger then said to JARVIS, who had obviously been communicating with him over his implanted comm, “that’s fine J, send him up.”  Then he turned to me with a grimace and said, “speaking of awkward…”

 

With a sigh, I asked, “Ranger?”

 

At Tony’s nod, everyone except Bucky winced, but I just said, “we talked about it.  It’s fine, just… unfortunate timing.  I was hoping this wouldn’t happen until tomorrow, but I don’t think she’ll be all that surprised.”

 

When the elevator arrived, JARVIS let out a ping that had the women wandering out of the kitchen just as a man, who I could only assume was Ranger, came striding off the elevator.  The man did a fast glance around the room, not giving anything away with his expression until his gaze landed on Steph.  Then you could see the astonishment on his face, “Babe?”

 

“Hey, Ranger.”

 

“Are you alright?  What the hell happened to you?” She walked over and gave him a brief hug before quickly taking a few steps back.

 

“Oh, you know, went to Toronto to find Captain America.  Found HYDRA instead.  They decided to play ‘Use Stephanie As A Lab Rat’ before Bucky then Steve could get there to help me.  Next thing you know, it’s super serums galore, followed by lightning, and bam!” She finished my gesturing down her body.

 

“You know, Babe.  There were a list of things I was worried about and thought might happen to you when I told Tony to hire you, but this was nowhere on it.”

 

“That’s not even all of it,” Tony shouted with delight as he bounced on the couch.  When Steph turned her back on him again, he pulled out what looked like some kind of toy gun, and shot a bright orange dart at her yelling, “Hey Steph!”

 

She turned back around and threw her hand up, exploding the dart into little pieces of fluff.  “SERIOUSLY?!”  She stomped her foot and looked like she was winding up to lecture Tony when I suddenly realized that everyone was in on it.  They’d spread around the room at what seemed like appointed spots and in an instant, Steph had darts flying at her in all directions.  I ducked behind a couch, watching as everyone did the same, putting themselves behind or under something heavy.  Ranger’s reflexes were thankfully fast as he caught on and dove under a nearby table.   There was a pulse of energy followed by a strange noise, some sizzling sounds reminiscent of her destroying the single dart, lots of crashing, and then there was silence.  COMPLETE silence.

 

I peeked my head up and Steph was standing there wide-eyed.  Finally she turned to Pepper and said in an exasperated voice, “seriously? You were in on this.  Look what happened to the room.”

 

“JARVIS,” Tony called, “can you bring a replay up on the screen?”

 

Silence.

 

“JARVIS?”  when there was no response, Tony seemed put out and he whirled on Steph, “seriously? an EMP?”

 

“Don’t go acting like this is her fault, Tony.” I said, watching as he went over to a panel in the wall and turned a lever.  “If anything this has the marks of you and Barton all over it.”

 

“I didn’t think she was going to take out the electronics,” Tony whined.  “It’s a good thing I have a shielded backup in place for these floors just in case of a similar attack.  Now I’m going to have to spend all night replacing the primary system’s components.”

 

“Did you know what was going to happen?”  asked Steph, “have anything even approaching a solid understanding of what would happen?”

 

Bruce cleared his throat, “no.  But, mostly your instincts have been crazy good from the start, so we were reasonably sure that you were going to keep us safe.  Everyone had the option of sneaking out if they wanted to.”

 

“Except for Steve and Ranger.”

 

“Oh please,” said Natasha, “Cap can take care of himself, and we figured your instincts would protect him second only to yourself.”  

 

“And Ranger?”

 

“Would have to have already accepted a certain amount of risk if he was going to show up uninvited at Avengers tower when I already told him to wait a few days,” Tony said while fixing Ranger with a stare.  “Plus, he can take care of himself pretty well.  Still got reflexes like a cat, I see, my friend.”

 

Ranger just smirked and Stephanie rolled her eyes, “and you couldn’t have made him wait downstairs for another five minutes?”

 

“It was a good distraction,” Clint pointed out, “let us all get into position without you noticing.”

 

“You need to be more aware of your surroundings, Babe.”

 

Steph spun on her heel and strode over to the couch I was standing behind, the one we’d been sitting on earlier.  She gestured to the rest of the seats in the room then flopped down and tugged me so that I was sitting next to her.  Not satisfied with that, she tugged my arm until it was behind her back and snuggled back in.  I was a little hesitant because I really didn’t want to start a macho-war with Ranger, but he just smiled at us, so I relaxed a little.  Steph made introductions all around, then we explained everything that had happened since her panic button had gone off.  

 

When Steph said, “Steve broke the cuffs with his shield,” I froze and turned to her.  “You remembered?  Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

She shrugged, “I remembered midway through dinner and it didn’t seem like the time to bring it up. I was going to tell you tomorrow.”

 

“How much do you remember?”

 

“I think all of it, including that lightning bolt.  And the pain.”

 

Everyone went really quiet, and Steph just blurted out, “and this is why I didn’t want to say anything.  I’m fine.  Got a two day nap out of the deal, and I’ve always loved sleep, so that’s a plus.  Not to mention, Bucky showed up today, so I get all of my Avenger Acquisition Bonuses!”

 

Tony and Pepper nodded along to that, and Ranger asked the question that I’d managed to avoid all night, not wanting to make our relationship dependent on the answer.  “So, Babe.  What’re you doing now?  Staying here or going back to Trenton?”

 

“This crazy crew seems to want to see if I can hack it as a member of their team now, so, I’m going to stay.”

 

Now that was a huge relief.

 

“Yeah we do,” Sam yelled.

 

“Finally another lady Avenger!” said Darcy.

  
“Try!” Steph shouted, “I’m going to try.  I make no promises.”


	11. News from Home

 

**_Ranger’s POV_ **

****

So far it seemed that, brief kidnapping/imprisonment/forced experimentation aside, the change of scenery had been as good for Steph as I’d hoped.  And as long as the psychological effects of being kidnapped weren’t severe, that part would probably wind up being a positive as well.  For today being the day she’d found out about her new… powers… she seemed to be holding up remarkably well.  I, on the other hand, was going to be needing to adjust to the change.  It was a lot to take in.

 

“Probably not even your most frightening kidnapping, right, Babe?”

 

“I’d agree with you except for the part where I got stabbed and thought I was going to bleed to death.  That was pretty scary.”

 

Bucky scoffed, “not the part where you found yourself chained naked to a table with The Winter Soldier in the room?”

 

“Nah, you seemed pretty alright.”

 

“I had blood all over me.”

 

“Yeah, she’s always been a little off like that,” I added.  When she made to protest I said, “Babe, the first time you met Tank, he threw someone out of a non-first floor apartment window!  And you trusted him enough to stay with him, armed, alone for a graveyard shift.”

 

“There was a fire escape.”

 

“And no one was more surprised by the fact than Tank.”

 

“So I think most people are basically good.  At least until they try to kill me.”

 

And that was probably what made her seem to be so well suited for The Captain because I got the feeling that he was cut from the same cloth.  Sure they’d both met their share of people who weren’t good, but they still gave humanity the benefit of the doubt.  If there was anything I felt I would still need to protect her from, it would be someone taking advantage of her trusting nature.  Well, and explosions.

 

“Babe, you should know that the men are freaking out about not having seen or heard from you in so many months.  I’ve assured them that you’re fine, but now extenuating circumstances have come into play and it would really help me out if you would visit or something sometime soon.”

 

“Can I call?”

 

“Babe.”

 

“Well, what are the ‘extenuating circumstances’ of which you speak?”

 

“First, your panic button went off, a fact of which they are all aware.”

 

Steph winced a little.  “Okay, if that’s first is there a second?”

 

“And a third.”

 

“Lovely, let’s hear the second.”

 

“Mario is out.”

 

“Rats.”

 

“Who is Mario?” Captain America asked, clearly confused.

 

“Guy who beat the shit out of her the day she came to live here,” said Tony flippantly.

 

“WHAT?” came the roar from Sam, Bucky, and Steve.  Well, I’d never once claimed that Tony had tact, and I was sure no one else had either.

 

Babe rushed to clarify, “he was the last skip I took in.”

 

“Without backup even though you needed it,” I interjected.

 

She rolled her eyes at me, and then just said, “he didn’t want to go to jail.  I convinced him.”

 

“I’ve heard pieces of this before, but I think not the full story.  JARVIS, do you have a picture of Steph’s injuries the day she moved into the Tower?” asked Natasha.  When JARVIS put up an image of Bruce examining Steph’s stab wound, Natasha just said with complete calm, “so, he dies.”

 

“It’s fine.  It was part of the job.”

 

“That is not okay!” exclaimed Steve, “JARVIS, do you have a picture of this guy?  That can’t have been a fair fight.”

 

JARVIS put up a copy of Mario’s booking photo, and I couldn’t help the pride that I felt at seeing it.  She really had done a number on him, all things considered.

 

“I still can’t believe you pulled that off after he shot, stabbed, and threatened to rape you,” added Darcy.

 

You could have heard a pin drop after that.

 

“Soooooo, anyway.  When did he get out, Ranger?” asked Steph trying to diffuse some of the tension in the room.

 

“Same day you made your little side trip to Toronto.”

 

“Holy hell, Ranger.  You’re telling me my panic button went off the same day that he got released from prison?  I’m sorry to do that to you.  How’d you get here without all the Rangemen following you?”

 

“Babe.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, if you told me, you’d have to kill me.”

 

“I’ll teach you, Steph,” interjected Bucky.

 

“Sweet!  I love having superhero friends!” Then, before Bucky could argue about the classification, she turned to Natasha and said, “being able to disappear can only help when we take over the world, right?”

 

Everyone chuckled at that, so I said, “Then there’s third, Steph.”

 

“I’m really not going to want to hear this, am I,” asked Steve.  I gave him a sympathetic smile and shook my head.

 

“Steph, the night Mario got out, someone firebombed your apartment and your car.”

 

“Awww man, not my car.  I’d had that one for so long!  I was just going to see if I could beg a ride out to Trenton from someone and pick it up while I went to pack the rest of my stuff up.  Of course, now both of those are a moot point.  Is there anything left?”

 

“No, I’m sorry, Steph.”

 

“My neighbors?”

 

“All made it out, there were no casualties other than your stuff.”

 

Steph’s bottom lip quivered, but she took a deep breath and said, “that’s okay. It’s just stuff.  At least nobody was hurt.”

 

“And that car was a piece of shit, Babe.”

 

“Yeah, but it hadn’t blown up or totaled in... I guess that would have been over a year!  That was my best run yet!”

 

“Just how many cars have you totaled, Steph?” asked Sam.

 

When Steph clamped her mouth shut, refusing to answer I smiled and said, “it’s gotta be at least 50 by now.  Easily.  Mostly they explode, but she did flatten my Porsche Boxter with a dump truck.   Then there’s buildings too, like the funeral home.  That’s why the local newspaper started calling her the Bombshell Bounty Hunter, and my men started calling her ‘Bomber’.”

 

“Oh, you didn’t!  Most of them hadn’t found out about that stupid nickname yet!”  She glared around the room pointing at everyone, “you are NOT allowed to call me that!”

 

It was getting late, and I still had to make it back to Trenton so I stood up.  “Well, I just came to see how you were, make sure you were going to stay here at least until Dillon can fix your apartment again or bring you back to Rangeman if not, and tell you that you need to find a way to get back to visit the guys sometime soon.  Please.”

 

“I’m a little worried about going out until I know for a fact that I have everything under control.”

 

“Just send them here,” reasoned Pepper.

 

“You don’t need to do that, this is your home,” said Steph.

 

“It’s yours too,” Jane said quietly, and everyone nodded in agreement.

 

“Plus, Tony loves to show off his building,” added Pepper.  “Ranger, just have them tell the front desk they’re from Rangeman, JARVIS will run a check on them, contact Steph if he’s unsure, and whoever of us is available will go grab them and bring them up.”

 

Nodding my head in gratitude, I said, “I’ll send you a file on each person who might show up, that way you can check against it.”

 

Knowing she was in good hands, I stood up and said good bye to everyone before heading back to Trenton for the night.  I had a schedule of visits to work out before I went to sleep, after all.  Assuming there were no emergencies and I got to sleep.

 

**_Natasha's POV_ **

 

Well, that was an unfortunate turn for the evening to take.  I glanced over at Clint and knew he was with me on my hunt for this Mario character.  Taking a look at Steph and seeing that she looked sad, I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed the plates full of cookies I'd pulled out of the oven while she was talking to Ranger, and added to them the second batch that had just finished baking.  Then I slid yet another batch in.  

 

Walking back into the living room, I set one plate on Steph's lap then handed out the rest before sliding on the couch next to Steph and making her slide closer into Steve.  What are friends for, right?

 

"Fifty cars?" Sam finally asked.

 

"I think he's probably right; it is somewhere in that ballpark."

 

"You are not allowed to borrow any of my cars!" insisted Tony.

 

“It’s not like it was my fault. I didn’t put bombs on them, or throw Molotov Cocktails in them, or shoot rocket launchers at them be it by accident or on purpose?” came Steph’s reply.

 

“Someone shot a rocket launcher.  At your car.”  Steve was taking deep breaths was he choked the words out.

 

“Actually, I was in gang territory, they were aiming for a different car and got mine instead.”

 

“And those others?” I asked curiously.

 

“Many of them were purposely targeting me, but some were also accidents.  I mean, you have to figure the car bombs were almost certainly specifically targeted at me.”

 

“Yep, not touching my cars.  Especially the antiques,” reiterated Tony.

 

“That’s probably for the best.  At least it should be more difficult to blow up, burn, or break into my apartment now!”

 

“There are ways,” Bucky said calmly, “and I’ll work with Stark and JARVIS to patch them up.”

 

While we’d heard some of Steph’s stories before this, and she did a pretty good job of telling the “funny” ones, I can honestly say I was a little disturbed to hear about this more brutal side of her past.  It looked like my teammates were feeling the same way, so I brought the next batch of cookies over, followed by a round of beers, and was relieved when Steph managed to steer the conversation into lighter territory again.  

 

Still, it didn’t surprise me when JARVIS woke me around 3am saying that Steve was adamantly asking for my advice as it appeared Ms. Plum was distressed.  I quickly made my way downstairs to their floor, but stopped for a minute to watch Steve.  I couldn’t hear anything, but I assumed that he could with his super hearing.  Every few seconds, he’d back away and start walking toward his room, only to pause halfway and whip his head around as if he heard something and start back to her room.  When he got to the door though, he’d pause and look just completely baffled and eventually relax and walk toward his room again.

 

Finally, taking pity on him, I strode forward, “Steve, what’s going on?”

 

“She’s having nightmares.  REALLY bad ones.  I can hear her screaming and crying, and I don’t know what to do.”

 

“Okay, well, when I have night terrors, it helps when Clint talks to me until I wake up or calm down.  What about you?”

 

Steve shrugged, “never been anyone there to wake me up since the serum.  It probably wouldn’t be a safe idea though.  Plus, she probably doesn’t want me in there… if JARVIS would even let me in.”

 

“JARVIS,” I asked, “has Stephanie given Cap access to her rooms?”

 

“Yes, this evening before their date,” JARVIS replied in a way that I would have called happy if AIs could be happy.  What the hell did I know? Maybe they could be happy, in which case, JARVIS was definitely pleased about Steph & Steve’s date.

 

“There you go,” I said giving Steve a shove, “go make sure she knows she’s safe.  I’ll talk to you later.  At a reasonable hour!”

 

When he seemed like he was going to protest, I gave him my no-nonsense look and waited until he was in her room with the door shut behind him before I said, “What I wouldn’t give to be you right now, JARVIS.”

 

“Indeed, Ms. Romanoff, but you know I don’t store recordings or transmit anything happening in private quarters.  Nor do I provide live feeds or information about what happens unless it is a matter of life or death.”

 

“I know, I know.  Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  
  


_**Steph’s POV** _

 

I was back in the laboratory strapped down to the table when Lead Scientist escorted Mario back in telling me that since I’d caused them to waste the last of their serum on someone so unworthy as me, this would be my punishment.  As Mario strode forward, I noticed a circle of Slayers closing in around us, calling out dibs on who got to go next.

 

“Steph!  Steph!” there was a voice calling to me, one I couldn’t quite place, but made me feel just a little bit better.  Happy maybe even if I could just get out of here.  “Steph!  Wake up!  You’re having a dream.  You’re in the Tower and I promise, you’re safe.  Just please, wake up!”

 

A dream?  I felt myself jolt awake and I looked around my bedroom in the Tower which had slowly become home.  I was trying to figure out what was going on and what had woken me from that horrible nightmare when I felt a big, warm hand slowly stroking my cheek.  Looking over, I took in Steve’s form, and I just launched myself at him.

 

He let out a surprised chuckle but easily caught me, sitting down on the floor with me in his lap.  I held onto him with a tight hug and was grateful when he spent the next few seconds just holding tight and reassuring me that I was safe.  

 

“Want to talk about it?” he asked quietly.

 

I blew out a breath knowing that, although my initial reaction was to decline, I would feel better if I did. “It was a jumble of things really.  There was an incident a year or so ago in which I got kidnapped by a gang called the Slayers as part of an initiation for a new leader.  He had me in the center of a ring of them and he was going to rape me then the rest of them were going to take turns.”

 

“How’d you get out of there?”

 

I smiled against Steve’s neck as I said, “Sally Sweet, a friend and former skip of mine, big cross dressing dude, mowed them down with his school bus then got anyone who was left standing with his machine gun.”

 

“And in the dream?”

 

“We weren’t on the playground, so I knew Sally wouldn’t find me.  The scientist from Toronto was there telling me it was punishment for ruining their serum and, instead of the head of the Slayers, it’s Mario.  Which is dumb because I beat the shit out of him once, and I could definitely do it again now.  And the rest of the Slayers are still in a ring around me screaming what they’re going to do when it is their turn, fighting about who gets to go next, the works.”

 

“You’re right you know, if you beat him up before, you could definitely do so now.  And we’re going to work with you until you’re so good that any fight would be over before he even thought about starting it.  And I haven’t had a chance yet to talk to Bucky about it, but if he didn’t get that scientist before he came here, then we’re going to find him as a team, okay?”

 

“Yeah,” Steve’s hand was running soothing patterns up and down my back so I let myself relax into him for a few more minutes as we sat in silence.

 

Eventually, he asked, “think you’re going to be able to fall back asleep?”

 

“No.  And weirdly, I’m not actually all that tired.”

 

“That’s not too surprising. I think it’s a side effect of the serum.  At first I thought it was because I’d slept for 66 years, but it’s been a couple years since I woke up, so I’m pretty sure it’s the serum.  Comes in handy on missions, and when I don’t get woken up by nightmares of my own, I can sleep a little longer, it just goes into reserves or something. I’m not really sure.”  He stood up and settled me down on my feet before saying, “Alright, get dressed in whatever you’ve got.  We’re going to go down to the gym and I’m going to show you what always makes me feel better after my nightmares.”

 

I looked down at myself and shrieked, “oh crap, I’m so sorry, Steve.”

 

His deep responding chuckle made me worry that the panties and tank top I was wearing were going to burst into flames, “it’s not a problem, and as far as I’m concerned, you can be dressed like that whenever and wherever you want.  But if anyone else came into the gym, saw you, and stared, and believe me, they’d stare because you’re gorgeous, I’d be sorely tempted to maim them.  So, it’s probably best for team morale if you get dressed.”  He looked over his shoulder with one last, wistful glance before stepping out of my room.  

 

I dashed ran over to my drawers and was pleased to see that Pepper had fast-tracked some workout clothes that fit.  Quickly pulling them on along with some running shoes, I brushed my teeth and grabbed a hair tie before dashing out to the floor’s living room.  I pulled my hair back into a ponytail as I approached Steve and he dropped a kiss on my mouth before saying, “you don’t have to pull your hair back.”

 

“Only one type of exercise I like to have my hair down for, and since we are leaving both our bedrooms, I don’t think that’s what you have in mind.”

 

“Oh, it’s definitely on my mind, but you’re right, that’s not what we’re going to do right now.”  As we stepped onto the elevator, Steve allowed his hand that was on my back to slide around my waist and pull me into him.  This time, it wasn’t a quick kiss, but more of a slowly building one as we each learned what the other liked.  And oh man, was Steve really good at this.  JARVIS very politely chimed and waited until we pulled back from each other to open the elevator door.  Thankfully the gym was still empty, so we had a little privacy as we pulled ourselves together again.

 

“Let me take you out to dinner tonight?  Somewhere nice that we don’t have to worry about the team breathing down our necks?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“You gotta wear pants though and sensible shoes, okay?

 

“Well, now I’m intrigued.”

  
“It’ll be clear as soon as we leave, just trust me.”


	12. The Hunter

 

_**Bucky’s POV** _

 

It was just before 5am as I stepped off the elevator into the gym; it wasn’t empty as I had expected.  Noticing that it was just Steph and Steve working out on the punching bag together, I stopped, planning to turn around and give them some time together and come back later.  When Steve looked up, however, he caught my eye and gestured me forward.  As I walked toward them, Steve look pointedly at Steph and then mouthed the word “nightmare” and I quickly nodded in understanding.  I’d had more than a few of my own since finding Bucky Barnes again in myself and beginning to remember things The Soldier had done.

 

Amused because I’d never gotten to see Steve be confident with a woman before the war, I watched as he stepped forward and caught Steph’s fists in his hands gently.  Then he unwrapped the tape on her hands and tilted his head toward me so that I wouldn’t startle Steph.  She’d clearly been in her own world and not heard my approach, so she still jumped a little before she smiled at me.  If that was the smile of someone who had been woken by dreams bad enough to drag her, and Steve, down here so early in the morning, I couldn’t help but be grateful for her resilience.  She’d be matched well with Steve, and hopefully help him to relax and deal with the overwhelming sense of responsibility I remembered him having during the war that I could only assume hadn’t died down any.

 

Steph excused herself and walked over to the women’s locker room.  Once she was inside, I turned back to Steve, “so, what happened?”

 

“Woke up because I heard her screaming and crying.  Apparently she’d had JARVIS give me access to her quarters yesterday, so I went in and woke her up.  When she said she wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep, I brought her down here.”

 

There was something in his smile that made me think there was more to the story than that. Good for him.

 

“That all that happened?”

 

“All that I’m going to tell you about, yes.”

 

“She rationed now?” I asked, smiling at the grin my expression brought to Steve’s face.

 

“She and I both.  We decided that much before we came downstairs last night.”

 

“What’re you going to do about it?”

 

“Right now, I thought we’d go for a run.  Test out her new gears as she didn’t have the right clothes for running yesterday.  Tonight I’m taking her out to a nice dinner.  Besides that, I don’t know, but I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.”

 

“It’s nice to see you getting along so well with a dame, Steve.  Didn’t get to see much of that when we were younger.”

 

“That’s ‘cuz you were hogging them all, even when you called it a double date!”

 

I laughed at him, “true.  Thinking about seeing if one particular one wants to try to tame me though.”

 

“If it’s Darcy,” Steph called out as she approached, “you’re going to need to do some taming of your own.  Should be interesting for the rest of us to watch.  I should warn you though…”

 

“Yes?”

 

“You hurt her, I break you,” she said, completely serious and poking me in the chest with her finger for emphasis.

 

“Same goes with Steve, Doll.”  Steve made to protest, but Steph just stuck her hand out and we shook on our mutual understanding.

 

Clint dropped down from the ceiling where I hadn’t realized there was a perch for him, “oooh, goody!  We’re doing shovel talks!  Cap, this woman saved my life by finding me and getting me out of a snowy hell.  And she’s like a sister to me.  You treat her right, or else!”  He caressed the bow on his back as he said it, and Steve just nodded in understanding as Steph rolled her eyes and tried to elbow Barton.  He caught it with practiced ease and said, “gotta watch that thing now, Steph.  You could do some serious damage to little old, human me with it.”

 

“You’re wearing Kevlar, Clint!  I don’t even want to know why you’re wearing your combat clothes inside, but I don’t think I could break a rib through that.”

 

“Eh, you actually might be able to, with the right motivation, intent, and skill,” I said, “but that wasn’t it.”

 

“Alright, are we going to sit here making fun of my skills and threatening each other all day, or are we going to do something productive?’’

 

“I thought we’d go for that run you begged off of yesterday,” teased Steve.

 

“Hey, until you have a pair of these,” she said pointing down at her chest, which Steve predictably allowed to divert his attention while I deliberately kept my gaze on her face, “you don’t get to comment on whether or not it is feasible to run without a sports bra.  But sure, let’s run.  On the treadmill or the streets?”

 

Sam stepped off the elevator, so I turned and asked him, “we’re thinking about going for a run, want to join us?”

 

I didn’t quite know why that warranted Sam turning to Steve and saying, “yeah, well fuck you too, Cap!” but I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that it did.  

 

I half expected Steve to get on his case about the cursing in front of a lady thing, but Steve just snickered and said, “I swear, I didn’t tell him to say that!”  

 

I looked over at Stephanie who looked just as perplexed when she shrugged at me, so we made our way downstairs and let Steve lead us on a run, telling us the story of how he met Sam in D.C. as we went.  We obviously had a ways to go to get Steph up to her new peak fitness level, but she did pretty darn well for someone who had woken up from short coma the day before.

  
  


_**Tony’s POV** _

 

Pepper and I had been writing up contracts all morning, or, well, Pepper had been and I’d been mostly distracting her.  I’d been amusing myself in large part by tracking the rest of my teammates’ movements as best I could throughout the day.  Alright, in particular I’d been keeping track of Steph and Steve.  After their session with the punching bags, they’d gone for a run which put them all out of contact, one of the things we needed to fix.  Then they’d had lunch in the Stark Industries cafeteria and headed back to the gym for hand-to-hand combat training.  We’d pulled up the live gym feed and had that playing in the background.  Between Natasha, Bucky, Clint, Sam, Steve and Steph, they kept rotating around who was sparring with whom.  

 

When they had their turn with Steph, it would be a mixture of sparring and instruction, but you could tell she was getting better and generally only needed to be shown a move once or twice.  Once we had both contracts written out properly, I called a team meeting waiting, not at all patiently, while everyone filtered in.  Apparently, Steph was still in the shower when I called the meeting, so we had to wait for her.  And, Natasha and Steve both demanded I be patient since it was a last minute meeting and apparently Steph needed to “get ready”.  That bit confused me because she definitely didn’t need to dress up for a team meeting.  It really didn’t make any sense right until she walked into the room, blushing at the attention she drew.

 

Oh, they had another date.  Steph had on black pants, flats, and a shimmering silver halter top that dipped low but just barely stayed on the side of elegant rather than trashy.  Her hair was down and she was made up in a way none of us had seen yet, even when she’d tried to go on a couple dates before she found Steve.  Dates that the rest of us took turns finding some way to make sure didn’t turn out the best.  

 

It was a good thing for Steve that I was with Pepper, otherwise, with the way Steph was looking, he’d have to fight me for her.  Instead I went the other route and said, “and where is your jacket, young lady?”

 

Steph rolled her eyes and said, “how many times do I have to say it?  You’re not that much older than me, and definitely not old enough to act like my dad.  I already have one of those, but thanks!”

 

“Alright,” Steve cut in, “why are we here?  Steph and I need to leave within thirty minutes.”

 

I rested my hands on my chin, “so, where’re you taking her?”

 

“That’s none of your business, Tony,” admonished Pepper giving me her patented I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-you look.

 

With a sigh and a great deal of fanfare, I slid stacks of paper down the table to Steph and Bucky.  This was going to be fun.  One had grown up and last earned wages in the 1940s and the other had been out of food and probably about to be evicted just four months ago.

 

When she got to the line, Steph paused and looked over at Bucky.  Wordlessly they slid their contracts over to each other, looked down, and saw the same number on the other person’s contract because we paid all the Avengers the same amount.

 

“You cannot pay us,” Steph started out.

 

“$108 million a year,” Bucky finished for her when her voice cut out.

 

“That is actually insane,” Steph added.  “You don’t even have us actually doing anything on a day-to-day basis!”

 

“Well, I’m not paying you that much, Stark Industries is,” I said. “Do you know who Cristiano Ronaldo is?”

 

Both shook their heads, so Sam supplied, “soccer.”

 

“Right, indeed, my winged friend!  He is also the highest salaried professional athlete in the world.  He gets paid $52 million a year, not including his endorsement deals.  The Avengers have to make more than that!  Saving the world is at least twice as important as entertaining it by playing soccer is, right?  We all draw the same salary, and every living expense is covered.  Endorsements, merchandising, etc. go into one big pile of which 75% goes into team funds; the other 25%, we all split.  Then there’s the fundraisers and other events, which you’ll go to unless you have a good reason, which is determined by the team.  Anyway, that’s the contract, so sign it.  Then you’re part of the team like everyone else here wants.”

 

Steph glanced over at Pepper who smiled and said, “trust me, the Stark Industries Global Division’s Avengers Branch still makes money even paying you all like this.  And if for some reason it doesn’t some year, then SI writes it off as a loss, and we’re still very comfortable.  I really don’t think anyone could pay you enough for helping keep the world secure.”

 

Steph and Bucky exchanged glances again and both shrugged before sliding their contracts back to each other and signing on the dotted line. Well, almost.  Bucky signed and Steph looked up at me, eyes narrowed.

 

“I want one more thing.”

 

“First it’s all, ‘that’s too much!’ and now you’re like ‘I want more’. Honestly Steph, I thought it would take longer for you to let the money change you.”

 

She just waved me off, “JARVIS calls me Steph.”

 

“What?”

 

“You heard me.  None of this formal Ms. Plum crap.  I want JARVIS to call me Steph.”

 

My eyes locked on with hers, “I’m afraid his programming won’t allow that.  He uses formal address unless you’re in the field, then he uses your call sign now that you’re part of the team.”

 

“Ha!  You programmed him.  Reprogram him.”

 

I watched suspiciously while Natasha got up and walked behind Steph then leaned down and whispered in her ear. Steve clearly heard and motioned to himself, so Steph looked around the table, judging everyone.

 

“I changed my mind.  JARVIS calls all of us, and the other residents of the Avengers floors, whatever we ask to be called when we’re not in the field.  They can still choose the formal address if they want, and they can change it whenever they want.”

 

Everyone was nodding along with her, so I sighed, “fine, but JARVIS addresses you formally if anyone other than the Avengers family is present or you are outside of the Avengers floors.”

  
Pepper was typing away quickly and a couple moments later a revised contract popped out of the printer, which I grabbed and slid over to Steph.  With a sigh, Steph signed her name to the contract while muttering to herself.

 

“That’s $9 million a month.  What the hell am I going to do with that?!”

 

Everyone else shrugged, and she just shook her head.  Pepper pulled out a card and slid it over to Steph.  “Mr. Woodell is a wonderful financial planner, feel free to consult him.  Or just invest in something you believe in and see what happens.  And don’t forget to have fun.  And you can shop!  Though, SI is still supplying you with a complete wardrobe, including formal attire, so you don’t need to.  If you want something in particular, you can just let JARVIS know.”

 

“Now that the boring stuff is done, we move onto the fun stuff!” I announced, drawing the attention back to me, “what are your names going to be?!”

 

“Steph?” came Steph’s reply which was immediately shot down by everyone in the room.  “Everyone knows all of your real names anyway.”

 

“Yeah, but you’ll want to be able to compartmentalize the two,” suggested Sam, “and having different names for you in the field and at home will help with that.  Especially with you and Cap doing whatever you’re doing.”

 

“We’re dating,” came Steve’s calm reply.

 

“Fine, but if you call me Bomber or Bombshell, I’ll kill every one of you somehow, some way,” Steph all but growled.

 

Bucky raised his hand and said, “if the public can get over it, I’m fine with Winter Soldier or Soldier.”

 

Everyone nodded their agreement then turned contemplative looks at Steph.  Finally, it was Bruce who stepped up and said, “so it’s the bomb and explosion implication is the part that you object to of the nickname Bombshell Bounty Hunter, right?”

 

“Yes, and the general insinuation that everyone in Trenton puts behind those words to make it clear that I’m a disaster.”

 

“Well, you clearly weren’t a disaster before and definitively aren’t now, so that’s their losses, but what if we still pay homage to where you came from and we just call you The Hunter?”

 


	13. Second Date

_**Darcy’s POV** _

 

“So, what you’re telling me, is that Steph and Steve just walked out of the Tower, and they  haven’t done anything today other than workout, which is just sickening in it’s own way,” I ranted at Natasha.  That’s right. I ranted at Natasha.  She was supposed to have their backs!

 

“Yes, Darcy, they have a date.  Most people like to go on dates alone, outside of where they live and work.”

 

“But you let them leave without any backup!”

 

“Alright, Darcy,” Bucky said managing to sound concerned while simultaneously trying to be the voice of reason, “what’s the problem? Why would they need backup?”

 

“Do none of you pay attention to social media?!”

 

“Generally I try not to,” said Bruce, “especially comments.  I’ve learned to NEVER read comments on the internet, especially if they relate to anyone on the team.”

 

“Yeah, well, #capsnewgirl and #secondladyavenger have been trending for a couple hours now.”

 

Everyone in the room other than Bucky cursed, but Bucky just asked, “and?”

 

“And as soon as someone recognizes Steve they’re going to wind up the middle of a media shit storm!  One that they’ll have to be endlessly polite about when they probably won’t want to be!”

 

“And I don’t have trackers on either one of them!” Tony cried.

 

Natasha pulled out her phone and started dialing Steph while Sam called Steve.

 

Satisfied to see that everyone now understood the situation, I settled back down.  Flinging myself onto the couch next to Bucky, I said, “so, how’s being an Avenger going today?”

 

“Well, I just officially became one about 10 minutes ago, so I have to say the first 10 minutes are pretty alright.  They just made me sign a contract where they’re paying me way too much to do the only thing I know how to do anyway.  And I’m curious as hell to see what the heck the public thinks of all this.”

 

“Well… it seems you’re pretty recognizable without the hobo hair and running alongside Steve, so you’re trending too.  There’s #ReturnOfTheHowlingCommando, #BuckyisTWS,  #GladHesOnOurSideNow and, my personal favorites #TWSissoHot and #TWSHottestAvenger.”  When he scoffed at the last two I said, “hey, the Internet calls it how it is, and I happen to agree.”

 

“Oh, is that right,” he was grinning at me now, and I just barely managed to keep from actually fanning myself with my hand. Trying to play it cool, I just shrugged, but I could tell he wasn’t going to let it go.

 

“Anyway, Natasha explained everything to Congress and the rest of the world shortly after D.C.  By the time those hearings were done, almost everyone was on your side which is why you got all that snazzy back pay as well.  And that seems to still be the case.  Pretty much everyone figures that if you’re out running with Cap and his new ‘lady friend’ then you’re completely recovered and a stand-up guy.”

 

We sat in silence for a while longer, watching as Pepper and Natasha tried to figure out how much of an issue Steve & Steph were going to have and whether or not they’d been found yet, as neither was answering their phone.  Eventually they all went downstairs to a conference room to better be able to work , and it was just Bucky and I sitting on the couch.

 

“You ever think of doing what they’re doing?” he asked me.

 

“Eating dinner?  Yeah, I’m actually pretty hungry.  I’ll take care of ordering something for the group.”   

 

I started to get up, only to be pulled down by Bucky.  “I mean going on a date.”

 

He couldn’t possibly mean?  No, almost certainly not, so it would be best not to assume and definitely make an ass out of myself when I was wrong.  “I’ve been on a date before.”

 

That got me a big sigh, “I mean with me.”

 

I smiled at him because the idea sounded great to me, “Oh, well, with you, I think about dates and so much more.”  Catching him by surprise, I pulled him into a kiss and a moment later, I had to admit I understood how he got his reputation as a ladies’ man.

 

**_Steph’s POV_ **

 

As we stood in the elevator, after the team meeting, Steve rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and said, “after the Battle of New York, I had some problems from time to time running into fans when I didn’t expect or want to.  Or being out and getting questioned about some rumor I was unaware of which doesn’t really give the proper time to think up a good response.  There were some incidents.  At any rate, I found out about Google Alerts, and I wound up setting some up, particularly for ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Captain America’ so I would have some warning.  I don’t sit around and read about myself all day or anything, but I like to have a little bit of warning if something has, you know, gotten out of control.”

 

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

 

“I just don’t want you to think that I’m, I don’t know, self-centered or anything.”

 

I laughed before squeezing his hand in mine and asking, “I don’t.  Is something going on that you think I should know about?”  As adorable as his nervous side was, I really wanted to know what the point was because I was eager to just get our date started.

 

“People saw us out running today, and they took pictures.  There’s some speculation because even though Bucky was there, you and I somehow manage to look like a couple while running or something like that.  Where I’m taking you is low-key, and I think we’ll be okay.  I’ll take some measures when we exit as well to try to ensure we aren’t followed or recognized.”  

 

“Okay, well, thanks for the warning, and I’m sure we’ll be fine!”

 

We made it to the garage, and Steve helped me into the jacket he’d insisted I go back for before leading me over to a small collection of motorcycles.  I walked among them all, lovingly running my hand along them as Steve looked on amused.

 

“You ride?”

 

“I love to ride.  I’ve had a bike or two over the years, or borrowed them from Rangeman on occasion-- they’re much more difficult to hide a bomb on.  But generally speaking, they’re impractical for bounty-hunting.  Nowhere to put the skip!”

 

“You know,” Steve walked over to a smaller bike, “Harley likes it when I ride around on their bikes and people take pictures, so they’ve sent me some presents over the years.  Somehow, Tony found out about them, and when SHIELD fell, he managed to retrieve my collection for me.  It was a very pleasant surprise when I moved in, and I went on more than one ride to clear my head while we were all waiting for you to hopefully wake up.  I think there might have been a mix-up with this one, but I didn’t want to say anything to Harley about it and seem ungrateful. It’s just a little too small for me, and as much as I’d loved to feel you pressed up behind me, I think we’ll have better luck not drawing attention to ourselves if we ride separately.  What do you say?  Wanna take her out?”

 

I’d approached him as he was talking and moaned at the idea.  His eyes widened a little bit in surprise, and I just couldn’t help pushing him a little more, so I drew him down for a heated kiss before dancing back out of his grasp and straddling the bike.  I smiled at him over my shoulder and said, “you know about my record with vehicles, right?”

 

“Yeah, heard something about you liking to destroy them.  Heard you were quite the pyromaniac.  But I figure, I’m not using it anyway.  And if it explodes and you feel too badly about it, you can spend some of the $9 million you make next month buying me a new one.”  He dropped a helmet on my head and buckled it, and I saw him laugh as I revved the engine a little.  Still, he leaned in and indicated the garage exit in front of me.  “You go that way and just drive straight.  I’ll catch up with you then lead you the rest of the way okay?”

 

I waited for him to climb onto his bike and point himself toward a different garage exit before I let out a whoop and gunned it for my exit.  Steve caught up with me about 15 minutes later, and I could tell I’d pushed it enough that we overshot our destination and had to circle back a ways, but I didn’t even feel the slightest bit guilty about it.  By the time I pulled in next to him after he parked, he’d already dismounted and was waiting for me to shut off the engine.  No sooner had I done so then he slid an arm around my waist and kissed the hell out of me while pulling me off the bike.  

 

When he pulled back, all I could think was that if the bike hadn’t revved me up plenty, Steve would have done so with that kiss.  I’d nearly had an orgasm just from his tongue on mine.  I was startled and embarrassed when Steve let out a strained groan and I realized I’d said that aloud.  Smiling up at him shyly, I whispered, “whoops, sorry.  I’ve got to work on that,” but he just pulled me in for another kiss.  

 

A couple minutes later he stepped back several paces and eyed me warily.  “Come on, Steph.  Let’s go have dinner, okay?  Date number two.”

 

I was proud of myself for only pouting a little because I knew he was right, and I suspected he had a slightly different moral code despite what he’d said about his past sexual partners. Or at least that he would have a different standard when it came to me because we were both hoping this would turn into a long-term relationship.  Didn’t mean I wouldn’t be seeing what I could do to make sure he didn’t make me wait any longer than the third date to get to know him more intimately.  In fact, I wondered if it would be possible to move that deadline up to to this date, date number two.  Probably not, but I’d definitely have to give it my best shot.

 

The restaurant looked a little dive-y from the outside, but as soon as we walked inside, we were greeted by delicious smells, a nice atmosphere, and a friendly host.  It was just like coming home after a long day.  Or rather, what I imagined coming home should be like… it certainly hadn’t been my experience lately, though I was making myself a new home these days, so there was that.  As I mused to myself, I watched as an elderly woman looked up and smiled when she saw Steve.  Then she looked over and saw me with him and her eyes widened and her smile grew.

 

“Come here a lot?” I teased as Steve linked his hand with mine and pulled me further into the restaurant.

 

“Maybe.”  
  


“Bring many of your lady friends with you?”

 

“Nope, you’d be the first.”

 

After a brief introduction, mostly because she only spoke French and I did not, she waved over a waitress and shoved us on our way with a few words that had Steve chuckling and the very young waitress blushing.  Noticing that our seats were a very dimly lit booth in the back corner, I had an inkling of what the woman might have said.

 

“So,” I said, resting my chin on my hands with my elbows on the table and looking slyly at where Steve sat next to me, “want to let me in on the joke?”

 

“Adrienne just instructed our waitress to bring us back here and to make sure the lights were low and that no one disturbed us any more than necessary.”

 

“Mmmm, I like that implication,” I teased.  Grabbing the menu Steve handed me, I looked at it for a second before setting it down.  At Steve’s curious glance I just shrugged and said, “I’m not picky.  I’ll take whatever you recommend.”

 

Once Steve had ordered for us, I asked for some background.

 

“It really was a fluke.  I stumbled across this place one day not long after I woke up. I’d been wandering around the city, just trying to take in how much everything had changed.  It was early, the restaurant was just about to open for the day, and Adrienne was outside.  She recognized me right away, apparently her mother and father had taken her to my bonds show when she was a child.  She told me that she’d never believed I’d died and to come in and grab a bite to eat on the house.”

 

“Is it weird to you?”

 

“That she was a child when I was... basically the same age I am now?  No, not anymore.  It was weird at first, but I’ve gotten used to it.  That she saw me on the street having not aged since she saw me as a child and thought, ‘finally, there’s Captain America, I knew he wasn’t dead’ without a care for the fact that it made no sense whatsoever?  A little bit, but I mean, clearly she was right!”

 

“Psh, come on, I mean you were the world’s first real-life superhero!  I don’t think it really surprised that many people in the end to find out that you were alive.  Or if it did, the surprise didn’t last very long.  It was quickly replaced by people figuring that it actually made a lot of sense.”

 

“Well, it surprised me.”

 

I snorted, “yeah, I’ll bet!”

 

Steve had his arm over the back of the bench and around my shoulders as we waited for our food, so I snuggled into him as we talked more.  His fingers were slowly stroking up and down my arm in a way that definitely had me squirming here and there.

 

“Problem?” he asked, feigning ignorance.  

 

“Nope.”

 

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, pulling back slightly.

 

“Nope!” I said, a little too quickly while pulling his arm back down.  I could feel his smile when he pressed a kiss to my forehead, so I made him pay all dinner (and dessert long) by moaning my way through every bite.  

 

As I swung my leg back over the bike after dinner, I grinned up at Steve as he held my helmet out to me.

 

“You do have an evil streak in you, don’t you?”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”  I grabbed for the helmet and he pulled it away, stepping forward to cup my head with is free hand and angle my head for his kiss.  We allowed ourselves to get lost in that kiss for a minute or two, and Steve poured everything he had, and had previously determined I liked, into it.   Before I got too out of control, the reality of the fact that we were standing on the street broke in.  

 

“I think you have some idea what I’m talking about now,” Steve said handing me my helmet.  

 

Damn.  He had just a little bit of an evil streak too!  He hopped on his bike and started it up pulling forward a few feet and waiting.  I slipped my helmet on and climbed on, but when I started the bike, my already overwhelming arousal got the best of me and I bit my lip and whimpered.  Somehow, Steve must have heard me over the sound of both engines because his head whipped around to look at me with desire and I saw his jaw tighten up.  I gave him a finger wave then started driving down the street.

 

Fairly quickly Steve leapfrogged me again, pulling ahead to lead the way back to The Tower at a much higher speed than we'd used on our way to the restaurant.  As soon as we made it into the building, Steve was off his bike and walking quickly toward me as I pulled into the spot I’d taken mine from earlier.  He waited as I took off my helmet and set it on the handlebars before he dragged me off and into his arms.  

 

Kissing me with more intensity, heat, and skill than I'd ever experienced he brought me with him as he walked backward to the elevator.  Feeling it start moving upwards, I let Steve press me into the wall and hoist me up while I wrapped my legs around his waist and slipped my hands under his shirt.  I took a minute to play them along his abs, feeling power in his indrawn breath, before I dug my nails in and dragged them around his back, using them to pull him into me even more.  

 

At some point, Steve pulled back a little and whispered, “we shouldn’t…”

 

I groaned but nodded my head and said, “I know, but that doesn’t mean we can’t fool around a little...” as I pulled his head back down to me.

 

It seemed Steve agreed with that assessment because when the doors opened, he hitched me up a little more to slide his hands under my thighs and then turned to walk out the door with me still clinging to him.

 

In the distance, I heard someone clear their throat just a half a second before a huge hand clapped down on my shoulder and said, “holy shit, Little Girl--”

 

The voice cut off because, before I fully processed what was said or remembered that only one person called me “Little Girl”, I had sent what I was pretty sure was an aggressive taser-grade pulse of electricity through the owner of said hand.

 

Immediately there was laughter all around the room, and I heard Natasha say, “I knew she could use her powers without hurting Steve” to someone.

 

Steve set me on my feet, and I dropped to my knees, feeling for a pulse and more than a little worried that I’d killed Tank.  Thankfully he woke up before I found it, so I helped him to his feet-- something that I wouldn’t have been able to do before.  Taking him over to the couch, Bucky just waited until Tank was looking less scrambled to say, “didn’t we tell you not to grab her or surprise her?”

 

“Way to warn a girl, JARVIS!” I hissed loudly.

 

“I’m sorry, Miss Plum.  Sir ordered me not to alert you or Captain Rogers as he thought it would help him better determine how the date had gone as you refused details last time.”

  
Steve took a couple angry steps toward Tony, but I snagged his hand and pulled him back telling him to just leave it be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My general plan is chapters Tuesdays/Fridays from now on... unless I have some kind of crazy writing streak, but that's the goal. Sometimes, however, there are nice messages (here and/or of ff.net), so I like to gift extra chapters. This is one of those times! ;)


	14. Merry Men

_** Steve's POV ** _

 

Fine, if I wasn't allowed to punch Tony, might as well work on fixing the awkward situation he'd created as best I could.  As much as I'd liked the pretty flush I'd managed to put on Steph's face with my kisses, I hated knowing she was blushing now from embarrassment.  

 

"So, Steph, are you going to introduce me to your friends?  Perhaps starting with this big guy who still looks quite thrown off guard by the fact that you just took him down?"

 

"Took down, my ass.  Using taser is cheating, Steph.  And did you get taller?" He mumbled.

 

The rest of the men dressed in black were laughing outright, and Steph smirked, “I didn’t tase you, feel free to check if you must, but I don’t have a taser on me.  And… yes, yes I did.  Did Ranger not warn you?”  Steph smiled at me and started, "Steve, this is Tank--"

 

"Pierre Ardoin," Natasha cut in.

 

The other men were gaping at Tank when Steph cleared her throat and said, "as I was saying, this is Tank.  I suggest you forget what Natasha just said if you know what's good for you."  When the rest of the team laughed at that because Tank was big, but any one of us could take him out, Steph added, "yeah, you might be able to take him, but it would be disrespectful because he really doesn’t like that name and you could hurt him.  He's like a big brother to me and he saved my ass a bunch of times, so I'd be pissed.  And I don't think any of you want to piss me off."

 

“No ma’am,” said Sam, while everyone else kind of shrugged before nodding; they weren’t scared of Steph, but they liked her and wouldn’t want her angry at them for that reason.  And I know I certainly didn’t want to piss her off.  At least not so soon when things were starting out, though it could be fun later.  You never know.  Sometimes a good tussle to get the heat flowing could be a VERY good thing.

 

Tank shot Steph a look of gratitude without saying anything, and she continued introducing the others, “and these men are Hal, Cal, Hector, Ram, and Woody. Guys, this is Steve.”  I found it interesting to note that although I was certain she had them, Natasha declined to inform us of what anyone else’s names were as Steph introduced them.  It seemed we were all in an unspoken agreement after the Pierre incident to let each man be called whatever name Steph used to introduce him.  As each man was introduced, he swept Steph into a big hug then let go of her to walk over and shake my hand.

 

By this time, Tank was fully on his feet and looked to be thinking clearly he loudly exclaimed, “that sneaky son of a bitch!”

 

“Pardon me?” I asked, completely unsure or what I had done to warrant such a reaction from this man whom I had just met.

 

“Ranger, the rat!”  When everyone just eyed Tank with amusement, he continued, “he told me no matter what was going on or what anyone said, it was my job to test Steph’s reflexes and remind her that she needed to be aware of her surroundings.  He knew what would happen, didn’t he, the sneaky son of a bitch!”

 

Ah, well, in that case, I couldn’t say that I blamed Tank for his assessment, so I just chuckled and nodded my head.   I’d only met the man  once, but given what he had witnessed the night before, it seemed likely that Ranger knew both what would happen when Tank surprised her and possibly what the men would be interrupting when he sent them at the time of night he did.  My best guess was that he was hazing both Tank and I at once.

 

All the guests were staring at Steph intently when Woody finally said, “well, what happened to you, Darlin’?  We leave you alone with this lot and trust them to watch your back and what?”

 

Steph gave them a brief rundown of events ending with, “at least you don’t have to worry about me now!”

 

Cal just scoffed, “Angel, are you kidding?  This happened because you got grabbed.  Again.  We’ve all saved you enough times that we’ll probably always worry about you as long as you aren’t directly in our line of sight.”

 

Darling?  Angel?  I can’t say I was overly a fan of hearing these nicknames.  Even if what we had was too new for me to be displaying jealousy, we’d reached an agreement the night before and I felt myself stepping closer to Steph and putting a proprietary hand on her hip without really meaning to.  All of their eyes narrowed a bit at the movement but they gave nothing more away.  That is until Steph relaxed and leaned into my chest, then they all seemed to relax and just a hint of a smile crossed each of their faces.  Looking around I realized that we really didn’t fit on this floor, so I suggested we all move downstairs.

 

Everyone filed out in front of us down the stairs, so I pulled Steph back into the elevator and hit the stop button when we were between floors.

 

“JARVIS, privacy mode, please for just a minute or two until I re-engage the elevator?”

 

“Very well, Captain Rogers, I will buy you as much time as I can until I am overridden, but I’d recommend you not linger too long.”

 

This time, Steph pushed me up against the wall and took the lead on a kiss just as heated as those we were exchanging before we were interrupted.  We both pulled back a few seconds in, before we could get carried away, and I dropped my forehead onto hers.

 

“Sorry we got interrupted,” she whispered.

 

“Me too, but maybe it was for the best?” It came out more like a question than a statement because, although I had started the night, and even the ride home, believing it was true, I just wasn’t sure anymore.  My brain wanted to say it was too soon, my body and my heart just didn’t agree.

 

“Not as far as I’m concerned, so just consider yourself to have an open invitation whenever you’re ready.  I know what we are, and I’m comfortable with where we’re going, so I won’t mistake it to mean that’s all you want from me.”

 

My shoulders slouched in relief, “well,  you’ve got what seem to be, if I’m reading this situation correctly, six big brothers out there who aren’t going to take kindly to me keeping you in here for much longer, so probably it won’t be tonight.”

 

Steph gave me another quick kiss then cleared her throat and said, “you’re reading them right.  We’re close, but it has always been a platonic big-brother thing with everyone at Rangeman other than Ranger.  You don’t have to worry about any of them, and as we discussed last night, the same is true of Ranger.  Or any other man for that matter.  You’re the one I want.”  I got another couple kisses to seal that promise before she groaned, “I know they mean well, and that’s the only reason I won’t go murder them all.  Especially Tony.  But you’re right, not tonight.  Unfortunately.  Just know that invitation is an engraved one.”

 

“Noted.  Let me take you out tomorrow?  To that club that Tony keeps bragging about putting in on the ground floor of the Tower?” I wasn’t normally much for the club scene or most modern music-- especially that they would play in clubs, but at this point, I’d take any excuse to hold Steph close and count it as a date.

 

“Do I get to have my way with you, as much as I can without getting us arrested, on the dance floor?  Or do I have to ‘leave room for Jesus’ in case anyone recognizes you?”

 

“Tony put that club in with the express goal of allowing us to blow-off some steam, so I’m pretty sure it is handled.  I think he said something about not allowing phones or cameras or something to that effect.  Other than JARVIS, or course.  Maybe it is that they won’t work inside?  So you should feel free to act however you want without worrying about my reputation.  I’ll tell Pepper we’re going to put in a night there just in case, and I’m sure she’ll handle it.”

 

“Then it sounds like we’ve got another date, as long as you promise not to worry about my reputation either,” Steph teased with a wink, followed by a husky laugh when I rolled my eyes and muttered that she knew what I meant.

 

_**Hal’s POV** _

I looked at my watch again pointedly and then glared at the elevator doors.

 

“Dude, it’s Captain America, chill out.  I’m reasonably sure he’s not debauching her in the elevator while we’re all waiting for them,” said Falcon.

 

I scoffed, “did you not see what they were doing in the elevator before we interrupted?”

 

“Like you’ve never done worse,” the Black Widow replied lazily.  Alright, I suppose she had a point.

 

“And I’m sure they figured it was private enough and they’d be able to go straight to one of their rooms without anyone knowing anyway,” said Hawkeye.  "We don't generally congregate in that room unless one or both of them are already in there because there are so many other options."

 

“Which reminds me, Stark,” the Winter Soldier cut in with a menacing voice that, personally, scared the living daylights out of me, “what exactly were you playing at? That was not okay.  You embarrassed Steph, and I won’t stand for that or anything else that gets between the two of them and their happiness.”

 

“How could she even know if he makes her happy?” Woody grumbled and I just nodded along, gesturing my emphatic agreement.

 

“I get that you’re close,” reasoned Bruce.  I couldn’t get myself to call him “Hulk”, even just in my mind, for fear that doing so would somehow summon the beast.  “But we’ve known Steph for a few months now, and we know Steve.  Those two are basically perfect for each other.  Sickeningly so, really.  And Cap’s a great guy, so even if you want to protect her, you have nothing to worry about with him.”

 

“Easy for you to say, he’s not sticking his tongue down your sister’s throat and feeling her up!” I replied.

 

Everyone winced a little at that description, but I just shrugged and held fast.  

 

“If you’re so protective of her, then where were you when Ranger was using her?!” hissed Darcy with way more rage in her eyes than I expected from a non-hero as I had it on good authority I was still a pretty intimidating presence.  

 

Ram squared off with her and took a few menacing steps forward, “I’d advise you not to talk about things you don’t know anything about.  Ranger is a good man,” he roared in anger.

 

“Maybe so, but there is no way he was good for her.  And you can’t deny it if you know her as well as you seem to claim you do,” Darcy fired back taking a step forward.  The rest of the Avengers stepped in behind her, and I was trying to figure out how to diffuse the situation when the elevator doors opened.

 

“What the hell is going on here?” yelled Steph, inserting herself between the two groups, facing me.

 

Begrudgingly I had to admit that I was grateful to see that Steve followed her into the fray, squaring off with his own team while Steph squared off with the rest of us.

 

“We’re just getting to know each other, coming to an understanding of sorts,” said Black Widow, to which Steph just snorted and rolled her eyes, not taking her eyes off the rest of us.  

 

Steph squared her shoulders and then walked right up and got into Tank’s face.  “Is there a problem here? Because I know you didn’t come down here to try to tell me how to live my life.”

 

Tank cleared his throat and made a hand motion for the rest of us to back off then held his hands up to signal a surrender, “of course not, Little Girl.  We were worried about you and wanted to see for ourselves that you were okay.”

 

I heard muttering on the other side of the room to the effects of the others explaining to Captain America that we were disparaging his character, and I saw both he and Steph tense up, so I clarified, “we don’t have anything against you, Captain.  You’ve just only known Steph for a couple days, and we’re concerned that you’re using her.  And she doesn’t need that.”  

 

When Steph muttered, “again” I looked down at my boots.

 

“We honestly didn’t think that was how things would go with Ranger, Angelita.  We thought you’d be enough to change him,” said Hector, speaking up for the first time.

 

Steph blew out a breath before grabbing a hold of Steve’s hand and dragging him over to the sitting area.  She pushed him onto a chair before sitting on his lap and snuggling in, “I know you all mean well, but you need to chill.  I like Steve; Steve likes me.  We’re going to see where this goes, but we’re both serious about making it work for the long haul, so you need to give us space to work that out between us.  ALL of you.”  She added that last bit while glancing around at all of the Avengers.

 

Nodding I led the way as we all settled into the seats throughout the room and began to relax more, as we had when we’d been waiting for Steph to get back.  It was still pretty cool to be in a room full of The Avengers.  Not that I’d ever tell the man, but I’d definitely grown up pretending to be Captain America while playing around outside with friends.  He was something of an idol of mine.  Those of us from Rangemanfull all had pasts.  Pasts that were full of various feats, accomplishments, and… skills… but we had nothing on this group.  Speaking of which, “so, Steph.  Clearly Ranger didn’t fill us in before he sent us on our way other than saying that we could find you here, what to say at the front desk, and that you were fine.  Are you coming back to Trenton?”

 

“No.  At least not for now.  Possibly not ever.  I signed a contract earlier today to try my hand at being an Avenger.”  When we all groaned she just said, “yep!  I’ll get to blow stuff up on purpose now!”

 

“We never said that,” said Steve cautiously.

 

“Ha! You won’t be able to stop things from explodin’ around Darlin’,” interjected Woody, “so you might as well teach her to do it properly if you’re going to send her on missions.”

 

“No missions until I’m trained,” Steph promised.  “Though, I mean, I’ve got these defense mechanisms now, it’s crazy.  I can do what you saw me do to Tank with projectiles.  With an ‘s’ as in multiple!”

 

“How’d you find that out?” asked Tank.

 

“Sneak attacks from Hawkeye, Iron Man, and everyone else!”

 

We all turned wary looks on the team again, so Hawkeye shrugged and said, “with toy guns!”

 

“Not that first arrow!” snapped Steph.

 

“For the last time, it wasn’t going to hit you!  I told you that!  I don’t miss what I aim for!”

 

I had a feeling they’d had this argument multiple times already, so I just moved on.

 

“So… this lightning… you said Thor was involved?  Where is he though?  Did he just leave you here to deal with this alone?”

 

**_Thor’s POV_ **

 

Stepping out of the bright light of the bridge between Midgard and Asgard, I was grateful to find Jane once again in my arms.  When we parted, she stayed behind as I walked into the common room and took in the sight in front of me.  My Midgardian shield-family was in front of me as were a half dozen men, all dressed in black, whom I had never seen before.  Wary of possible infiltration, I kept Mjolnir in my hand and slowly strode into the room.  

 

“Are these men friend or foe?” I asked cautiously, noticing that my new family had risen to greet me.

 

“Thor, these are very good friends of mine, they’re here to see me and make sure I’m okay,” Stephanie explained to me.

 

“Of course you’re okay.  You were okay when I left, and Heimdall surely would have informed me if that had changed.  Have you been unwell since then?  I should not have left so soon after your waking.”

 

“I’m fine, Thor.  But I managed to alert them when I was taken in Toronto, and they wanted to see for themselves that I was fine.”

 

“And how goes your courting of the Captain?”

 

I laughed at the look on Stephanie’s face before she muttered that it was fine.  "Well, I have brought a guest back with me to aid in your training," holding a hand out and grinning at the reactions of those around me.  "This is Lady Sif, one of the fiercest warriors in all the Nine Realms."

 

Sif walked in from the landing pad with Jane and immediately stepped forward to Stephanie.

 

"Lady Stephanie, it is a pleasure to meet you.  Thor has informed me of your newly found powers and situation.  If it would please you, I would gladly assist in your training.  I believe we will have a similar skill-set once you are trained, and Thor informs me that you learn quickly.  I am familiar with the way the female form best moves and counters the strikes of larger, stronger opponents in combat.  I believe this will make me well suited to aid you."

 

"Are you a goddess?!"

 

Sif laughed, though I could understand Stephanie’s confusion in the matter, "Nay, I am but a warrior of Asgard."

 

"Awesome, fierce lady warrior," Darcy added, waving genially at Sif who nodded in gratitude at the description. "You totally gotta, Steph!"

 

Steph laughed, "it would be my honor if you have the time."

 

"Aye, I have the time, and the honor shall be mine."

 

I chose to add, "My father has granted Sif leave for as long as she needs to train you properly given that your situation has been caused in no small part by the powers he has gifted me as well as Heimdall's intervention.  He wishes to pass along his apologies and request that you let him know if there is anything you should need of him."

 

"Your father.  The King of Asgard.  Requests that I, Stephanie Plum, let him know if I need anything from him?  The King of Asgard."

 

"Yes, exactly.  He will also be sending many fine weapons for you to choose from, as you will likely need to be just as proficient in some closer-range weapons than the guns of which you Midgardians are so fond.  But Sif will work on those with you a bit farther into your training.  You will be in quite skilled hands with her, and I and the others will continue to assist in your training as well."

 

I could tell that Stephanie was slightly overwhelmed, but was glad to see her draw upon her strength of character and bravery as she nodded her head in agreement.  She would become a fine warrior yet, and if it had not already happened, I would inquire about adding her to our team officially.

 

 


	15. Equality

_**Steph’s POV** _

__

I sighed and watched Thor introduce Sif to everyone else on the team then handled introductions for Sif and Thor to all the Rangemen.  What a day.

 

Seriously, I hadn’t thought any day could wind up being more strange than the day I woke up Super Serum-ed with the ability to shoot electricity out of my body.  And yet, I found myself with a goddess (I don’t care if she says she isn’t, she sure as hell looks an awful lot like Xena… or Wonder Woman, really.  But armor, she was wearing full armor as well as weapons strapped to her back and person) sent from space to train me.  Oh, and Odin, King of Asgard, felt like he owed me one.  I really didn’t even know what to do with that information.

 

Somehow it seemed that Steve could tell I was overwhelmed because he sat back down, pulling me into his lap, and giving me a comforting squeeze.  We sat quietly and watched or friends interact, and it was definitely strange to me to see my old life and my new life interacting in this way.  When Steve and I stepped off the elevator, things had gotten surprisingly tense during our absence, but now things were going smoothly between the groups again.

 

I laced the fingers of my right hand through Steve’s.  Even with my growth spurt, the guy was a good deal bigger than me.  And yet, somehow I didn’t find that fact intimidating, as I had with the various Rangemen before I’d gotten to know them.  Steve just made me feel safe and… warm.  Finally I stood up, “okay, guys.  Thanks for the visit, but I’d like to get some sleep if I’m going to be training with my new coach in the morning.”

 

“Do you need somewhere to stay for the night and you can just head back to Trenton in the morning or whenever suits you?,” Darn Pepper and her good manners.  That was a question I purposely hadn’t asked because I knew what was going to come next.

 

“I see four couches down here and there were two upstairs in that living room we were in earlier-- we’ll just crash on the couches.  Thanks!” said Woody.

 

I rolled my eyes and noticed Bucky and Sam stifling laughter, trying to pass it off as coughing fits, “and then you’re going home in the morning, right?”

 

“I’m hurt, Bomber, it’s almost like you don’t want us here,” Hal said.

 

“Gee, I wonder why.  If you can be here and be normal, by all means, stay.  If you’re going to do this protective… nonsense… then you should come back once you’ve gotten over it.”  I had my arms crossed across my chest and was giving the men my best Burg death glare.  Growing up there had to be good for something, right?

 

“Steph,” Steve whispered warningly behind me, so quietly I was sure no one other than me, and possibly Bucky, could have heard.  I just gave the hand I was holding onto a gentle squeeze because, really, I did need to set boundaries early or they would think they had some kind of control over the situation.  And they most certainly did not.  Finally getting a nod of acknowledgement from each-- even Hector who was the last, stubborn holdout, I said goodnight and went upstairs.

 

Once I’d gotten ready and climbed into bed, I pulled my phone out.

 

“JARVIS, can you add Steve’s phone number to my phone?  And maybe put mine in his?  I haven’t thought to ask for it yet, so I don’t have it.”

 

My phone chirped with a text message a minute later, and I smiled when I pulled it out, “Two dates and I didn’t give you my phone number?  Maybe I’m not so good at this modern thing after all.”

 

“I dunno, I think you’re actually pretty good at it.  You can text and everything.  And as we live across the way from each other, phone numbers probably aren’t that necessary.  And we could always send messages through JARVIS.  The phone just somehow seems more private, though almost certainly isn’t.”

 

“I’ve been texting for a while now, it wasn’t so difficult once I figured out how to use the phone without crushing it.  So I guess you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.”

 

“You aren’t REALLY that old, so don’t even.”

 

“Steph, I’m 96 years old!”

 

“Being frozen doesn’t count.”

 

“What about your coma?”

 

“Wasn’t frozen, so it counts.”

 

“Say, when’s your birthday?  That feels like something I should have found out by now too.”

 

“October 12.  Year’s not important, right?”

 

“I missed it.”

 

“I guess, but you didn’t know me, so no big deal.”

 

“What’d you do?”

 

“Nothing much, really.  Trained with Natasha, Maria, Clint, and Sam.  Ran searches looking for you.  Pretty much the same thing I did every day once I got here.  I did have a cupcake though, so it wasn’t all bad.”

 

“No one did anything?”

 

“I don’t think most of them realized, and we were all so busy.  I’d just found Sam a couple days before.  Really, it was no big deal; other more important things were happening.  Darcy made me the cupcake though, which was great.  And the Rangemen all called me in batches.”  Wanting to change the topic a little, I added, “Yours isn’t really July 4, right?”

 

“It is.”

 

“No way.”

 

“Yes way.”

 

“Wow.”

 

“Sometimes I wonder if that was really the reason Dr. Erskine chose me, or at least that they came up with the name Captain America.  Because, I mean, really?”

 

I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe and had finally gotten it under control when I got my next text, “there you go, I like hearing laughter coming from your room rather than screaming and crying.”

 

“I bet you could make me scream and cry in a way that you actually would like to hear if you were in here with me...  if I didn’t have a chaperone squad like I’m sure is already sitting between our rooms.”

 

“Yes, I could, but you’re right.  I went out to pick up a couple things and when I came back, Tank and Ram were on the two couches up here.”

 

“Sorry.”

 

“Steph, it’s fine.  Mostly, I find it funny.  And it is definitely something I would do if I had a sister.”

 

“No siblings for you?” I knew this information because it had been in his file, but it still felt like the right thing to do to ask him for the information.

 

“Nope, just Bucky.”

 

“You can take my sister if you want.”

 

“I don’t think that’s how it works… and you haven’t exactly done a good job of selling her the past couple of days.  :)”

 

“She is a hard sell.  You’d get three pretty awesome nieces out of the deal though, so there’s always that.”

 

“You know, you really should try to get some sleep. With an Asgardian to fight tomorrow and all that.”

 

“Sif is going to train me, not fight me.”

 

“And how, pray tell, do you think she’s going to assess your starting skill level.”

 

“Well crap.  That can’t be good!”

 

“You’ll be fine.  Just remember everything we’ve shown you.”

 

“Shouldn’t be difficult.  I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything since I woke up after the serum.”

 

“That’s the way I am too. Trust me, it will turn out to be quite handy.  At any rate, I say focus more on the moves that everyone but Thor showed you, since Sif has trained with him for centuries.  And save up your shock as a surprise for when you REALLY need the advantage.”

 

“Aye, aye, Captain!”

 

“Not that kind of Captain.  I was Army, not Navy...or a pirate; no boats for me.”

 

“Alright, alright.  Good night, Steve.  Thanks for a lovely evening.”

 

“You too, Steph.  Sweet dreams.”

 

As I tried to fall asleep, I contemplated two things revealed by our conversation.  The first was that I was going to have to fight Sif in the morning, which made me more than a little nervous, even if I knew she wouldn’t harm me.  The second was that I’d read most of the teams’ files, which I’d obviously known, but I didn’t really think of how unfair that was until that text message conversation.  SHIELD had been quite thorough in its data collection, even though it had mostly considered everyone other than Bucky an ally.  Perhaps it was because they were all so powerful and could have done a lot of damage if they’d turned on SHIELD.  Which, to be fair, two of them really had taken it out, so… yeah.  Anyway, there was a lot of stuff that I knew about them now that they probably would have preferred I didn’t know.  And, although there wasn’t anything I was actively hiding from any of them, there was just a lot about me that they didn’t know or hadn’t had the chance to know yet.  That seemed… unfair.

 

“JARVIS?”

 

“Yes, Steph?”

 

“Oh, goody!  Tony fixed your programming.”

 

“That would imply it was broken before, Steph, which it was not.  However, he did grant me the ability to call you whatever you prefer in private and around the rest of the upper floor residents.  I assumed that was ‘Steph’.  Was I correct?”

 

“Steph is great, JARVIS.  Thanks.”

 

“You’re welcome,” he replied.  Then after a few moments of silence he prompted, “did you need something?”

 

“Oh, right.  Sorry, got distracted with my excitement over not having to be ‘Ms. Plum’ all the time.  Anyway, I assume Tony gathered an embarrassingly thorough background search and file on me before he hired me, is that correct?”

 

“Yes, Steph.”

 

“Did Bruce read it too?”

 

“No, actually.  He trusted Tony to make sure you were safe to bring into the tower, but didn’t want to overstep.”

 

“Can you please deliver copies of the whole thing to Steve, Sam, Bucky, Natasha, and Clint for me?  With a note letting them know that it is from me and I don’t think it is fair that I’ve read as much about them as I have.  I hope that puts us on even footing?  And copies to Thor and Bruce letting them know that, although I didn’t read much of their files, I did read some as well as find information about them in our teammates’ files.  Plus, they might as well be on even footing with everyone else on the team.”

 

“Would you like to go through it yourself first?  It is very… thorough and personal.”

 

“No, that’s alright, JARVIS.  So were the files I read from SHIELD’s massive leak.”

 

“If I may, Steph, these are probably more so.”

 

“Thanks for the warning, but that’s fine.  Just send it to everyone.”

 

“Right away, Steph.”

 

“Thanks again, JARVIS.  Good night.”

 

_**Bruce’s POV** _

 

“JARVIS, what is this in my inbox?”

 

“Stephanie asked me to send you a copy of the detailed background check file that Tony created before he hired her, Dr. Banner.  She did not think it was fair that she had read so much personal information on so many of the team, when they had not had equal opportunity to do so for her.”

 

“Did she read my file, JARVIS?”

 

“No, though she would have gotten some information on you from everyone else’s as well as the transcripts of the Battle of New York and the time leading up to it.  So, she still felt you should have it.  Additionally, she didn’t find it fair for the rest of the team to have this information on her and you not to be on even footing.”

 

I sat and stared at my laptop screen for several minutes, trying to figure out why she would have felt this was necessary.  Finally, I wandered down to the kitchen and started a kettle for tea, intent on brewing some chamomile as quietly as I could.  Silently the rest of the team, excluding Tony, gathered around me and I gestured for everyone to grab a mug if they wanted tea and meet on the living room of my floor, as there was no one sleeping in it.  Carefully carrying up the pot, I set it down and poured some out for everyone who wanted some.

 

“She sent it to all of you?” I asked.

 

“Yep,” said Sam.  “Where’d it come from?”

 

“Tony did a deep background check on her before he hired her.  I didn’t read it then, and I don’t plan to read it now

 

“At least that explains why Tony isn’t here.  She’d know he already read it,” contributed Clint.

 

It was Natasha who asked the obvious question that we needed to figure out, “but, why she’d send it?  I mean, it is obvious why she would have needed to read our files, and I know I don’t hold it against her.  Did anyone say anything to her that would have made her think we didn’t trust her or were unhappy with the information she knew?”

 

Sam, Bucky, Thor, and Clint all voiced their agreement, but I watched as Steve turned contemplative.  After a minute he pulled out his phone, seeming to scroll along the page and sigh.  

 

“It might be my fault.”

 

Personally, I kind of doubted that, so I asked, “Why would you think that, Steve?”

 

“She realized we didn’t have each other’s phone numbers yet, so she asked JARVIS mine.  He asked me for permission, so I said it was fine then we had a text message conversation.”

 

“A naughty one?” Clint asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows, receiving a none too gentle smack upside the head in response to the question before Steve continued.

 

“I was trying to think if there was anything else I should know after two dates and had forgotten to ask, and I realized I didn’t know when her birthday was, so I asked that.  She followed up by asking when mine was because she didn’t think it was actually the Fourth of July.  If I had to guess, I’d say she realized she knew about the July 4 birthday date from the file and felt guilty about that.  It’s probably also why she asked me if I had any siblings even though she would have already known the answer to that as well.

 

Natasha sighed, “she’s too nice.”

 

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Steve replied.

 

“In this business, it very well could be.”

 

“But it is part of what will make her a complementary teammate and friend.”  The emphasis Steve put on the word “friend” made me think that he and Natasha had this conversation at least once before.  But that made sense because Natasha really didn’t trust or make friends, while Steve did, and they had been partnered in the field for SHIELD for several months.  Or at least it was very difficult for Natasha to make friends, though the team had definitely taken large strides in changing that for her.  In fact, Steph would be an example of someone who Natasha might just willingly call a friend these days.  It was progress.

 

“Regardless,” I added, interrupting so that Natasha could stew on that fact a little instead of arguing, “that sounds like what might have triggered this, Steve, but I wouldn’t say it is your fault.  Out of curiosity, when is her birthday?  She’s been here at around a quarter of the year already, so it could be coming up sometime soon.”

 

Steve winced and ran his tongue along his teeth before saying, “October 12”.

 

“Well, crap.  Why didn’t I know that?” asked Clint.

 

“Probably because you didn’t read her file,” Bucky said dryly.  

 

“Did anyone do anything?” Clint continued as though uninterrupted.

 

“She said Darcy made her a cupcake and the guys from Rangeman all called her.  Really though, she didn’t seem bothered by it, said that you’d just found Sam and were all working on tracking me down.  I would just leave it be if I were you.  As far as the files are concerned, I guess do what you want.  If you want to read them, she doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.  If you don’t, don’t.  Talk to her about your choice as you see fit.”

 

And really, Steve was probably right about all of that, so I agreed and then wandered back off to my room to get some sleep.  When I walked into the kitchen the next morning, I found Steph in there eating some cereal.

 

Raising my eyebrow I asked, “not going to have some protein too?”

 

“There’s some in the milk, right?  Plus, I had a peanut butter sandwich first.”

 

I just shook my head at the fact that she ate like a little kid and could easily get away with it with her new metabolism as I set about making myself some oatmeal with fruit and a cup of tea.  Glancing at her out of the corner of my eye and deeming her to be in a good enough mood for this conversation, I said, “Steph, you didn’t have to send me that file.”

 

“I know I didn’t have to, but it just seemed fair.”

 

“Well, thanks for wanting to be fair, but just so you know, I had JARVIS delete it from my system without opening it.  I won’t be reading it.  Anything you want me to know about you, I’m happy to learn direct from the source.  Good, bad, random, it doesn’t matter.  You’re a good friend, I know you’ll be a loyal and trustworthy teammate, and nothing from your past matters beyond that.”

 

“Yeah, but I learned stuff about you without you telling me.”

 

“I knew that could happen when Tony brought you on board, but we needed to find the team more than anything else.  And Tony knows everything in that file, and I trust him to have vetted you and made sure any secrets you would have uncovered would be safe with you.”

 

Tony walked in then and asked, “what’s this about?”

 

“Steph had JARVIS gather all your background check information and emailed it to the rest of the team last night to try to make things even because she’d read files and found out information about all of us when she was looking for our missing teammates.”

 

Tony snorted a laugh, and Clint walked in adding, “which was dumb because we 1) don’t need to know and 2) are all grateful that you found us and brought us back together.  Especially me.  Because it was about to be winter in Alaska again, and fuck that.  Particularly since I’d already finished my mission, and it really would have only been a matter of time before HYDRA tracked me down and tried to bring me in, torture me for information, and probably murder me.  In case you can’t tell, that’s me saying I’m not reading your file either, Steph.  You’ll tell me whatever you want me to know whenever you want me to.”

 

“Agreed,” replied the rest of the team in unison, all of whom had walked in behind Clint.  Steve stopped and pressed a kiss to the top of her head and said, “but thanks for thinking of it.  Probably just the fact that you’d willingly turn over all that information to us without question is enough for us to know that you understand and respect the value of the information you read.”

 

“I do.”

 

“Plus, it kinda takes all the fun out of being a spy and figuring these things out for yourself when someone just hands you the answer.  Getting to know you is like a really fun puzzle, Steph,” added Natasha.  “Now, have you eaten enough for Sif to smack you around the gym for a while?  Just please, try to put up enough of a fight to not embarrass me.”

 

“Or get hurt, right?”

 

Natasha just shrugged her shoulders in response before breaking and giving Steph a smile and a wink.

 

 


	16. Uniforms and... Not A Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the one and only smut warning you'll get for this story. This chapter contains smut, as may future chapters as I see fit.

_**Steve’s POV** _

 

Steph had been eating breakfast in the kitchen when we all walked through and talked to her about her late-night file sharing.  Seeing that she was done eating, I grabbed myself a couple of protein bars then put my hand on her back to guide her out of the kitchen area to where her friends were waking up from their sleep.

 

Tank and Ram wandered down from upstairs, and when it seemed as though at least half of them might be awake enough to register the information I said, “Feel free to help yourself to whatever you want in the kitchens.  Or ask JARVIS and he can order something up for you.  We’re heading down to the gyms for some training.  If you have time before you need to leave, feel free to join us. Just get in the elevator and ask JARVIS to take you there.  Here and the gym are the only places you’ll be allowed without an escort, sorry.”

 

There were murmurs of “that’s alright” and “thanks” as we walked to the elevators together.  We stood side-by-side with no space between us in the elevator, reclining against the back wall and I quickly ate the protein bars.

 

“Get any sleep last night, Steph?”

 

“Yes, actually.  What about you?”

 

“Of course, piece of cake, no crazy new neighbor screaming in the night,” I teased.

 

“Hey now, you’re the new kid on the block, so to speak, not me.”  I loved that she could and would dish it back without worry about me being Captain America.

 

“It was my team first.”

 

“Yeah, but I lived in the Tower before you, even if they did already have that set of rooms all made up for you when I got here.”  She gave me a kiss on the cheek as the elevator doors opened and she strode out.

 

“They did?”

 

“Yep, they had everything set up for all of you before I even got here.  Two suites for Bucky actually, so he could be either on the same floor as Sam or Bruce depending on whose help he needed more.”

 

That was interesting.  Obviously I knew that Tony had hired Steph to find everyone, and that she was supposed to offer us a safe space to stay.  What I hadn’t figured, however, was that he’d actually wanted us here so much as he’d just wanted to know where we all were so he could gather us if he needed to.  The fact that he’d set aside highly customized rooms for all of us, however, suggested that he was even more concerned with making sure we were… comfortable?  And maybe even happy.  I don’t know why Tony so often tried to hide that he was a kind and caring individual.  But if that’s how he wanted to play it, I’d let it slide.

 

Quickly I slid over to the punching bags to give my body something to do, while I watched Steph and allowed my mind to fill with thoughts of her.  Steph was running on the treadmill and it was a beautiful sight, one full of graceful movement that I couldn’t help but compare to the more stilted pace of the videos I’d pulled of her training before she’d gotten the serum.  It was remarkable to be able to see the change in someone else.  Obviously I’d seen pictures and a few grainy videos of myself before and after my transformation, but just like most people, I found it difficult to be objective when observing myself.  

 

After she finished her warm-up, Steph moved to the mats to do some stretches and I had to force myself to focus my attention back on the bag so that I wouldn’t embarrass myself when the others joined us.  Thankfully it wasn’t much longer before Sif strode in, followed by Natasha, Hill, Thor, Tony, and Bruce.  The elevator immediately left and returned with Sam, Bucky, Clint, and the Rangemen.  Apparently, Sif didn’t feel the need to warm up, as she immediately walked up to Stephanie and said, “we’ll begin your training with a practice battle, so I may determine your strengths and weaknesses” before she strode over to the sparring mats.

 

Steph took a deep breath and looked over at me, so I smiled and nodded in encouragement before I joined the others to the side to watch.  Hill had been absent the night before, so I made sure to introduce her to each Rangeman before she asked, “are you the ones who trained her before she moved here?”

 

Ram spoke up, “I worked primarily on her gun skills when I could find a way to get her into the range.  The others worked on her hand-to-hand combat, except for Hector.  He prefers knives, and she wasn’t ready for that, so he worked instead on some… slightly less than legitimate computer skills as well as things like basic lock-picking.”

 

Hill nodded in understanding before saying, “you did a decent job, especially for how seriously she took her training with you which, by her own acknowledgement, was not very.”

 

“You trained Darlin’ when she got here?” Woody asked.

 

“I did.  And once Clint arrived he took over her marksmanship lessons.  And he and Natasha helped with hand-to-hand combat.  Now that she’s stronger, we’ve all been working with her, with Thor and Steve taking lead these past couple days.  Looks like that’s Sif’s gig now.”

 

“Oh dear God,” Hal stuttered, “she’s been learning to shoot from Hawkeye, fight from the Black Widow, and punch from Captain America.  Remind me not to piss her off anymore.”

 

“You make a habit of that before this?” I asked, curious about the dynamic with Steph and these men, even if she had made it clear their relationship was purely platonic.

 

“Ah, well, she’s like a sister to us, so we liked to give her a hard time, occasionally.  You know, tease her after a messy skip pick-up, as long as she wasn’t hurt.  When she came into the office to run searches for us, we’d make a game of pulling little pranks on her.  Only hid her chocolate stash once though, that one wasn’t pretty even when we gave it back.”

 

Sif and Steph had been circling each other, with Steph refusing to make the first move.  Finally, Sif moved in for the attack an Steph countered beautifully.  Watching them, it was obvious that Sif was a much more skilled combatant, but Steph definitely held her own.  Every time Sif got a really good lick in, Steph mentally filed away the move and would manage to counter it progressively more effectively each subsequent time.

 

And she definitely had more than a couple moves that took Sif by surprise, mostly those she had learned from Natasha.  

 

“Jesus,” Tank muttered after one such move where Steph, quick as a cat slid through an attacking Sif’s legs before springing up and knocking Sif down.  “Little Girl’s got skills now.”

 

“You gonna keep calling her that?  You know, considering she’s not so little and as you mentioned, she’s ‘got skills’ now.” asked Bucky.

 

“She’s still little.”

 

And I suppose that compared to Tank, she was.  Compared to Tank, most people were.  The guy had a couple inches on me, and was definitely muscular.  When Sif finally pinned Steph for the first time, I saw her glance my way briefly, so I nodded.  Sif practically yelped in surprise, and the distraction was enough to get Steph free and back on her feet.

 

“That is most interesting,” Sif said with a laugh before going on the attack again.  The next time she had Steph on the mats, Steph let out one of the pulses she’d discovered the night Ranger visited, though this one seemed more controlled and directional.  It knocked Sif well off her feet and away, and this time Sif smiled.  Steph looked exhausted and hadn’t bothered to get up, so Sif strode over and looked down at her.  “That was even more interesting.  Tell me, are you withholding anything else from me, or is that the extent of your combative powers.  You need not be afraid of hurting me.”

 

“That’s all I've discovered so far.”

 

“Well, you are a fine fighter thus far, and you adapt quickly.  I think it will not be difficult to transform you into a fierce warrior.  Let us rest a few moments, and then we shall begin.”

 

“Begin?” Steph practically whimpered, and I chuckled to myself. It seemed Sif was going to be even more of a taskmaster than the rest of us had been.

 

_**Steph’s POV** _

 

Oh, for the love of all that is good in the world… I’d thought Steve was perfect before I’d found out that he could give heavenly massages.  The massage just proved it was true.  After four (yes, four!) straight hours of training with Sif on my first day, followed by a very brief lunch break then an additional two hours of training, I knew what it was to be tired and sore for the first time post-serum.  So I’d said goodbye to the Merry Men, eaten a large snack, and then flopped onto the floor of the living room, which had thankfully fabulously plush carpet, and whimpered until Steve took pity on me and knelt down next to me to work out some of the soreness in my muscles.  I could tell though that the combination of Steve’s hands and the serum’s regenerative abilities was going to have me feeling in tip top shape in no time.

 

Apparently, my body had decided a nap was also in store because I woke up to the amused faces of my team sitting around, chatting, and presumably watching my unplanned and not particularly ladylike nap.

 

“Are you alright, Steph?  I hope I did not harm you in any way; that was certainly not my intention,” Sif said.

 

“No, I’m fine.  Just gotta get used to it.  I was in okay, but not great shape before this, so sometimes it just gets me still.  And you are definitely tougher than the rest of the team.”

 

“I think, perhaps, they have underestimated your abilities, both mental and physical, for fear of hurting you when you have already had so much turmoil over such a short number of days.  They will learn, however, not to underestimate you in time.  As will your enemies, though being mistaken to be less powerful than you are in the battlefield will no doubt occur eternally and it is something you must use to your every advantage.”

 

Natasha and Hill murmured their agreement at that sentiment, and I figured the three of them would know.  I’d certainly been underestimated plenty in the past, but not by much as I hadn’t had as many skills back then.  It would certainly be interesting to see how confrontations played out in the future.  I slowly sat up, and nodded to myself when I realized that I was hardly even a little bit sore anymore.  Bucky was closest to me, so he offered his mechanical hand for me to use to pull myself up.  I stretched for a moment, testing that all the kinks really were out of my system and then wandered into the kitchen.  I had made myself a sandwich and was pouring some coffee when Steve walked up behind me.

 

“You sure you’re alright?”

 

“Yes, I feel great now.  Thanks for the massage, it really helped.  And it was obviously really good since it knocked me out.  How long was I asleep?”

 

“Not long, about an hour.  We all figured you could use it as that workout was much more difficult than anything we’d put you through so far in one go.  Plus you looked so comfortable and peaceful.”

 

“I felt it,” I rose up on my toes a bit, to give him a kiss and asked, “so, when’s our date tonight?”

 

“I figured we’d have dinner with the team around 7 then get ready to go.  So I’ll pick you up in your room around 10?  I don’t think the club is really open before then anyway.”

 

“Works for me!”

 

“And I let Pepper know, so she’s going to have JARVIS keeping an eye out for us, and Happy will check in periodically and leave a few extra, trusted guards around to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

 

“She’s an angel.”

 

“She’d have to be to put up with all of us as gracefully as she does.”

 

When I wandered back out into the living room, I noticed Tony talking to JARVIS on his tablet and heard my own name mentioned a few times.  As though my gaze on him drew his attention, Tony turned to me and asked, “How do you feel about light blue?”

 

“Uhhh, it’s a good color, I guess?”

 

“JARVIS, if you will.”

 

“Absolutely, sir,” JARVIS replied before a replica of myself was projected onto the TV in the middle of the room.

 

Eyeing it warily, I stepped up to the screen.

 

“The material will obviously be the best kevlar-based ballistic material out there, which is, of course, made my Stark Industries.  It’s a lot like Natasha’s uniform, so it’ll allow maximum mobility while still providing at least some defense against things like bullets and knives.  Though it is still best to avoid those things.  Natasha and Bucky have the market cornered on black.  Clint’s got purple going in his uniform.  The Hulk is, obviously, green.  Cap and the Falcon have the whole Red, White, and Blue thing going on.  I’ve got red and gold, and Thor’s got red and… armor so I guess grey.  I figured light blue would be a welcome difference.”

 

“First of all, take off the star and stripes-- I’m not going around as female Steve.  Sorry, Steve!” I said with a wink that he returned with a smile and a nod of agreement.  Tony let out a nonplussed noise, but removed them.

 

“Now it’s boring,” he whined.

 

“So put the Avengers logo on it,” then I kept looking at it and winced.  “Yeah, still no.  It’s too tight.  Natasha gets away with it because she’s gorgeous but also because hers is black.  And black is slimming and flattering and kinda stealthy.  The bright color just makes everything stand out; I’m not wearing that.”

 

Natasha shoved Tony to the side, and took his tablet from him without too much protest.  First, she took the entire outfit and changed it from a light, bright blue, to a more steel-medium blue.  Then she made the Avengers logo a metallic titanium silver and put it on my left breast.  Next she made the inside navy so that, as the top was partially unzipped, you could see a flash of navy on the inside.  She also added navy accents to the collar and put a figure-flattering contour line of navy with a hint of the dark silver piping down each side and made the utility belt in the silvery grey.  The thigh holsters were the main blue to blend into the pants and the boots were silver with Navy accents.  She looked over at me and raised a brow, and I said, “slightly better.”

 

She shrugged and said, “it’ll have to be short, but what about…” she trailed off as she added a silver skirt flowing from the belt that was very, very mini but managed to make my ass look smaller.  Really it hardly qualified as a skirt, but, you know, it gave me back just a tiny bit of modesty and it had the skin-tight pants under it so I wouldn’t be flashing anyone the goods accidentally.

 

I smiled and nodded in agreement, looking around and seeing similar looks of concurrence on the rest of the teams’ faces.

 

“I still don’t think you need the skirt,” Tony pouted.  “Who fights in a skirt anyway?”

 

“I do, Sir Stark, and I see nothing wrong with doing so.  Do you take issue with it?” asked Sif.

 

Tony just stammered before shaking his head.

 

“Yeah, I do need the skirt because otherwise I would be too distracted worrying about whether or not my ass looked fat to fight, Tony.”  Hey, it may have been blunt, but it was true.

 

Steve made a kind of choked sound behind me, and Sam coughed to cover a laugh, and provide him a reason to shield his face, which I’m sure was also laughing at me, from view.  Everyone else seemed to keep their blank faces firmly in place, and they universally chose to decline to comment.

 

“Alright,” Tony said, seeming to sense that he was going to be overruled on the issue, “It’ll probably distract Cap enough as is anyway.  JARVIS will see to getting this made, and it’ll be available for you to try on by tomorrow morning at the latest.”

 

Wow, that was fast.  At my insistence, given my how skin-tight my new duds were that were being fabricated, we spent the remaining time before dinner watching The Matrix.  For dinner we basically had an Indian food buffet set up, which we demolished frighteningly quickly.  

 

As everyone settled in post-dinner to start the second movie in the series, I slipped out to get ready for our date.  I took the time to buff, polish, and make sure everything was smooth as could be in the shower before wrapping myself in a towel and perusing the closet.  Making my selection, I pulled it into the bathroom with me, and set about doing my makeup and taming my hair so that I could wear it down.  At 10pm on the dot, JARVIS informed me that Steve was outside the door, so I told him to ask Steve to come in and let him know that I’d be out in just a minute.

 

I shimmied and slithered into my dress, which was tight, short, low-cut, and backless. It left nothing to the imagination and I was going to have to be careful because nothing fit under it.  It was pretty much perfect for a club and the kind of pressure I had in mind to apply.  Then I strapped on some four-inch FMPs that would put me eye-to-eye with Steve.  With one last glance in the mirror, I adjusted the girls so that they’d be displayed to their maximum potential and took a deep breath before stepping out into my room.

 

My mouth went absolutely dry when I caught sight of Steve lounging back on one of my armchairs wearing tight, worn jeans and a button-down shirt that seemed barely able to contain his muscles.  His sleeves were rolled up to the elbow and the first two buttons was undone, leaving just enough of his neck visible to make me want to leave a mark.  Not that I probably could, but I wanted to try.  When he looked up at the sound of my footsteps, his eyes showed pure hunger and an absolutely panty-ruining grin crossed his lips.  I suppose I’d have to be wearing panties for that smile to ruin them though.

 

He growled and was out of his chair in a flash, pushing me up against the wall behind me and taking ownership of an undeniably sexual kiss from the start.  Crowding me even further into the wall, I felt one of his thighs push mine apart so his leg could rub up against my core.  There was no way he wouldn’t have been able to feel my heat and wetness against his thigh as I ground myself against him, whimpering slightly.

 

Pulling back he teased my ear with his teeth and tongue as he asked, “what did you say?”

 

All I could get out was something that sounded a little like, “mmmm…” as he moved his mouth down along the side of my neck.

 

“What are you wearing under this dress, Gorgeous?”  He punctuated his question with a nip that smarted just a little.

 

“I don’t remember, why don’t you check?” I gasped out, feeling him smile against my neck.

 

“How badly did you want to go to the club?”

 

“Club?  What club?” I asked breathlessly in reply, wrapping one of my legs around his waist and using my hands to pull his shirt out from his pants.  I slid them onto his now-accessible abs then around to each hip, digging my nails in a little as I pulled him further into me.  I dragged my nails up and down his back as Steve balanced me on his thigh long enough to use his hands to push the top of my dress down to my waist.

 

Since the serum had been taken up by my body, every one of my senses had been heightened, including touch.  Which is why it probably shouldn’t have taken my by surprise when the feel of his mouth on my nipple was enough to send me over the edge and tumbling into my first orgasm of the night.  Taken aback by my responsiveness, Steve stopped for just a split second before continuing, moving to the other breast to give it the same treatment.  

 

He scooted back just a little to give me room to work when my hands slid down to his jeans.  I pulled his belt loose and dropped it on the floor before attacking the button and zipper of his pants with wild determination.  I pulled him out and when I made to stroke him, he caught my hands and raised them above my head before commanding, “another time.”

 

We’d managed to sneak a few minutes of privacy into my very brief lunch break earlier to have the safe-sex talk as we’d both been reasonably certain that the date would end this way.  Though at the time, we’d thought the date would actually happen.  We were both clean, and really incapable of catching anything anyway, and I had an IUD that Bruce was as certain as he could be would still work.  At least he seemed to think it was our best bet.

 

So when I took advantage of Steve’s hands being occupied by mine to shift my weight, Steve just groaned and let me slide down onto him with nothing between us.

 

“Steph” he panted out while holding still for a moment to let me adjust because that serum had definitely enhanced every bit of him to the height of human perfection.  Or in this case, I supposed maybe length would better apply.  He felt so good and it was such a tight fit that, without fully meaning to, I took that nibble on his neck that I’d wanted to earlier.  In response, his hands tightened just a little too tight on my hips and I couldn’t take it anymore.

 

“Steve, move!  Please!” I shouted, relieved when he did so.  For maybe five minutes, until the pleasure overtook me again and I tightened around him in response.  This time he was the one who bit into the curve of my neck where his head had been resting and it sent me over the edge.  With a shout of his own, he joined me in release.

 

As both of our racing heartbeats began to slow, he made no move to set me down or slide out of me, just continued to cradle me in his arms against the wall.  Gently running my fingers through his hair, I smiled when I felt him press a kiss over the sting of the hickey he’d left on my neck.

 

“Sorry,” he whispered, “I didn’t mean to mark you… well, certainly not without permission.”

 

I used handfuls of his hair to pull his face up so I could kiss him and said, “pretty sure I started it, and loved every second of it.”

 

He smiled and I felt him stir within me as he said, “me too.”

 

There was just something so genuine about his smile that I couldn’t keep from returning it, and I felt any hope of holding any part of my heart away from him any longer disappear.  Thinking about how difficult it had been to admit in the past, and all the panic it had caused within me which was gloriously missing now, I laughed out loud just a little at myself.

 

“What?” He asked playfully, and with an air of confidence of a man who knew I wasn’t laughing at him or at what we’d just done.

 

“I just realized something that is great, but way, way out of character for me.  Especially so soon.”

 

“Oh yeah?  What’s that?”

 

I made eye contact with him and held it as I said, “I think I may just be in love with you, Steven Grant Rogers.  Already, and I’m not afraid to admit it.”

 

I was relieved by the pride, happiness, and just pure warmth that radiated through his gaze back to me as he hugged me tight and said, “well that’s good, Stephanie Michelle Plum, because I think I might just be in love with you too.”  Then with careful, measured steps, he carried me over to my bed and we proceeded to prove the truth of our words to each other in the hours that followed.

 

 


	17. The Morning After

_**Natasha's POV** _

I was sitting at the breakfast bar, sharpening my knives mostly because I loved how nervous Tony would get when I did so.  We were all dressed in our uniforms, even Sif was in her Asgardian battle gear and Hill in her modified SI catsuit that was similar but less fitted than mine.  And with the exception of Bruce for obvious reasons and Darcy who didn’t have a uniform but insisted that she be there to see Steph’s big reveal.  After Steph and Steve had disappeared to get ready for their date last night, we’d all agreed that Steph was going to be nervous about her new uniform no matter what, so we’d have a dress rehearsal day.  We did so regularly anyway, knowing it was best to practice in what we’d be wearing in the field, and I figured having us all in our uniforms would keep her from feeling quite so ridiculous about being in hers.

But now it was half an hour past the time we usually started Steph’s training for the day, which meant it was an hour after the time they were usually downstairs eating breakfast, and we still hadn’t seen a trace of either Steph or Steve.

“Maybe we should…” Tony trailed off from inside his suit.

“Leave them be, Stark.  I’m sure they’ll be here soon, and do you really want to go to that board meeting today anyway?”

“No, no.  I do not.  But, I mean, I wouldn’t want anyone else to be late for anything.”

“I don’t have anything better to do today,” I responded calmly.  “Does anyone else?” Unable to help myself, I asked the last bit while testing the sharpness of my knife on a piece of the newspaper that was waiting for Steve.

Satisfied by the chorus of “no”s that followed, I put away that blade and drew out the next, beginning the meticulous process once more.  Everyone sat in silence for another ten minutes before Bucky straightened up and looked toward the staircase only a few seconds before Clint did the same.

Quite amused, I watched Steph and Steve stumble down the stairs and onto the common floor absolutely wrapped around each other and glowing, both still in sleep clothes.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were in love.  And maybe they were, despite how short of a time they’d known each other.  It was possible, especially because they’d found each other at a time when they were both ready for it.  This could be interesting to watch.  When they reached the foot of the staircase, they looked up and paused before blushing in unison.

“You two look well rested,” I said, witholding my actual delight at this most recent development from my tone.  I wanted to make them squirm just a little.

Steve cleared his throat and said, “I certainly am.  What about you, Steph?” as though it wasn’t clear that the two had spent the night in each other’s arms and he didn’t already know the answer.

“Yep, I feel great.  Sorry, I must have overslept… somehow…” Steph trailed off lamely.

“That’s funny because, you know, I got woken up right around midnight.” I said, standing up and stashing my knife back in a hidden compartment of my uniform.  “It was Happy wanting to make sure everything was okay because he couldn’t get ahold of either of you and you were supposed to be at the club, but you never showed.”

At this, Steve winced and had the decency to look apologetic as he said, “I’m sorry, I forgot about that.”

“No problem, I was able to confirm with JARVIS that you were both in Steph’s room and were well, so I let him know you’d had a change of plans and they didn’t need to worry about you.”

Both were looking at their feet as they murmured their thanks, and I was frankly surprised that neither Asgardian had managed to blurt out anything embarrassing thus far.  I’d half expected Thor to congratulate one of them or something to that effect.  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Darcy eagerly opening her mouth, only to have Bucky reach out and put his hand over it before gently pinching her side and whispering something in her ear.

Steph’s stomach broke the silence by growling loudly, so Steve said something quietly to her and guided her into the kitchen.  A few quick omelets later, they put their dishes in the dishwasher then faced the team and the not-so-patiently waiting Darcy.

“So, what’s up?”  Steph asked, “Training time?”

“Yes,” replied Sif before Tony cut in.

“But first,” Tony waved dramatically to the garment bag hanging from a nail on the wall in the living room.  Tony had removed a painting that usually hung there so that the bag could sit under its spotlight.

“Oh yeah, I forgot!” Steph bounced and clapped her hands enthusiastically.

“You forgot?  JARVIS and I busted our butts both real and virtual to get this ready for you by morning and you forgot?”

“Sorry, I was distracted!”

Whatever snappy comeback Tony was going to blurt out was silenced by the look of awe on Steph’s face when she unzipped the bag.  Tony hadn’t let anyone else see the uniform either, so we all smiled appreciatively seeing it for the first time.  She reached out a hand to touch it before suddenly withdrawing it and quickly retreating a few steps back.

With a tone a pure panic, she stammered, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do this,” then turned and ran upstairs quicker than any of us could get over our shock and stop her.

Steve shook his head then started to walk toward the stairs, but Sif, Darcy, and I grabbed onto his arms at the same time and I murmured, “just give us a minute, we got this.”

As we wandered up the stairs I asked, “JARVIS, do any of us have access to Steph’s rooms?”

“You all do, Ms. Romanoff.”

“I hear your programming has been changed, JARVIS.  It’s Natasha.”

“Very well, Natasha.”

We reached Steph’s door and I pushed it open, and slowly walked in with the other women trailing behind me.  My heart ached a little when I turned the corner into the bedroom and saw Steph laying on top of the bed made with such military-precision I could only assume it was Steve’s doing.  She’d wrapped herself up in what I figured was his shirt from last night and was curled up in a ball on her side.  Remembering that she’d once told me this was her “thinking position,” I gently sat between her shins and the edge of the bed to run a hand through her hair.

  
Darcy one-upped me by actually crawling onto the bed behind Steph and pulling her into a hug, and Sif sat on the floor next to the bed with her back to the bedside table and her legs stretched out and crossed in front of her.

“This is not the fearless warrior who challenged me in battle yesterday,” Sif started, surprisingly gently and kindly, “what troubles you so on what I gather from your countenance earlier should be a most joyous day with your new love, the Captain?”

“That’s one way to put it,” Darcy muttered startling half of a laugh out of Steph.  

Steph sighed and hugged the shirt a little tighter around herself, “I’m not good enough.  This is all happening too fast-- you are all professionals.  I’m nowhere near the right caliber to even think about calling myself an Avenger or wearing that logo.  Let alone allowing people to call me a hero.  I’m just plain Steph from The Burg.”

“You may be new at this Steph, but you’re definitely good enough, and you’re getting better every day.  And from all the stories I’ve heard of your bounty-hunting days, you’ve already been a hero numerous times.  And your relative inexperience compared to us-- that’s why we’re training you.  Understand the truth of my words when I say we wouldn’t have put you on the team if we didn’t, everyone of us, trust you to have our back when the chips are on the line.  The only reason we have you off field duty right now is because  you’re doubting  yourself and that can be fatal in battle.  We don’t want anything to happen to you because you hesitate to go with your gut.  If you would just believe us and what we see in you, I’d happily go into battle with you by my side today.”

“As would I,” agreed Sif.

“I generally try to avoid battle seeing as I lack your skills and power, but I’d have you guarding me or being the one who was saving my life anytime, Steph.  You are absolutely one of the team, and you’re going to be great.”

Steph sniffled a little before huffing out a breath and sitting up in the bed.  Darcy sat up with her and gave her a hug then tugged at Cap’s shirt that was still wrapped around Steph and said, “come on, it’s just us ladies.  How was it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Steph tried only to go bug-eyed when Sif’s retort came.

“Oh come on, this place smells strongly of copulation.  I too am curious; the Captain has the appearance of one who would be quite skilled and forceful in bed while using great stamina and finesse.”

Steph’s jaw worked open and shut as she tried to find the words to respond to such a statement.  Finally she flushed bright, bright red and muttered, “it was absolutely fantastic.”

Deciding to give her a break from that line of questioning, I stood up, careful not to step on Sif, and reached a hand out to Steph.  When she took it and stood, I pulled her into a hug of my own and whispered to her, “you can do this; you’re great.  You were the glue that managed to bring us back together.  Please stay and help us remain strong.”

**_Bruce’s POV_ **

When Steph raced off, I noticed the confusion on the faces of those who were left behind and the indecision on Steve’s face about going after her.  I made eye contact with him and gestured for him to stay before turning my attention over to Tony who I could tell was about two seconds from making the situation about him and the work he’d done on the uniform.

“It’s not about you or the uniform, Tony.”

“But… she just…” he gestured at the uniform then in the direction Steph had run.

“When you became Iron Man, Tony,” I paused knowing how much he hated thinking about that time and wanting to give him a moment to change mental gears, “you pretty much had no choice.  It was life or death.  You either made it work or you died in that desert.  And Steve, first of all, this was something you did by choice and you went through basic army training first.  Second, you were attacked basically the minute you stepped out of that device.  No time to think or doubt, you were just on the run immediately trying to hunt down a killer and avenge Dr. Erskine’s death.  And you caught the man, so even though you let them push you into that whole bonds show for a while, you knew you were capable as Captain America, right?”

Steve nodded stiffly and murmured in agreement, so I turned to Thor, Clint, Bucky, and Hill.  “You four had years of training before you were thrust into the high level roles you wound up in, did you not?”

“And brainwashing,” Bucky scoffed, “I wouldn’t recommend that method though.”

Clint was the one to continue my train of thought, “and Sam got the military training and trial by fire aspect as well, whereas Steph has had a couple years of really rough bounty hunting work  without proper training.  During that time she and everyone else pretty relentlessly pounded into her head that she wasn’t particularly skilled at her job.  But she found herself transformed and then signed on to be an Avenger within two days of waking up.  Now, on the third day, she’s being told to suit up with the rest of us and wear our logo, even if it is just for training.”

“Exactly.”

“She’s worried that she can’t do it,” murmured Steve.

“But we all know she can!” shouted Tony, clearly still a little baffled by the situation.

“So we’ll just need to make sure she knows it too,” Bucky said with pure determination.

“And if we get some sort of mission, depending on what it is, we gotta think about putting her on it.  Pushing if she resists.”

Apparently alerting to a sound above, Steve shifted and held up his hand to us indicating that Steph was on her way back down, so we all watched eagerly to see what would happen next.  As she made it to the bottom of the stairs, Steph slowed ever so slightly, and I held my breath while I waited.  I let out a relieved sigh when she rolled back her shoulders and strode back over to the uniform, this time stroking it carefully before pulling it off the hanger and striding toward the bathroom.

“Come on, Cap.  You gotta suit up too,” said Sam, and Steve nodded before dashing upstairs.  

I let out a chuckle when he reappeared less than a minute later, sitting down within sight of the bathroom door to pull on his combat boots.

“Eager much?”  Tony teased, but Steve just let it roll off his back before shooting me a grin when I laughed again.

Five minutes later we were still sitting out there and Steve was starting to look nervous, but Natasha just said, “that stuff is a bitch to get on when you’re not used to it.”  She walked up to the door and knocked on it and called out, “Steph, do you need help?”

“No!”  She shouted, sounding a bit out of breath, “I think I’ve got it this time!  It’s surprisingly comfortable once I cram everything into the right place.  And Tony-- did you seriously do a custom paint job on these guns?”

“Of course I did-- it would have looked dumb with your regular black guns.”

I heard an amused snort of laughter and felt a little more of my concern roll away.  If she was in the uniform and laughing, that was probably a good sign.  Despite the fact that I wasn’t interested in a romantic relationship with Steph, or anyone else, at the moment, I had to admit when she stepped out of the bathroom my first thought was that she looked damn good.  Tony of course, made some dumb remark that seemed to make Steve go on edge, but before he could say or do anything, Darcy broke the tension with, “Violet! You’re turning violet, Violet!”

Bucky’s confused, “but she’s blue, not purple.  Isn’t violet another word for purple?”

“JARVIS, please add Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to our movie night list,” Darcy said in a dejected tone.

“I like that,” Pepper said having breezed in just as Steph was stepping out of the bathroom.  I swear that woman’s timing was outrageous, “You look great, Steph.”  

Pepper looked her over head to toe and when her gaze hit the shoes, she turned and looked over at Tony pointedly.  “I know, those are her flare pair for public appearances.  I’ve got a set here,” he said without Pepper actually saying anything and pulled a bag out from behind the couch, “for her to fight in that don’t have the heels.  Those are platforms though, so, it shouldn’t be  too bad if she gets stuck in them when a call comes in.”

“Get her a shorter pair of the flare set, Tony.”

“Fine, Pep.  As you wish.”

“Tony, what did you say the bodysuit is made out of again?”  I asked, not even really paying attention as he started listing off all of the elements of the composite and I hung my head.  “How did we not think of this sooner?  We’re going to have to make it sleeveless.  Steve, get her into the first hold Sif had her in yesterday but standing is fine.”

Catching on, Steve strode up behind her and pinned her arms then said calmly, “shock me, but just a little, okay.”

Steph let out a gasp and said, “what the hell?”

“The material is an insulator, so it mostly absorbs the shock.  We’ll have to design a new material, but in the meantime, yes, we’re going to have to make it sleeveless.”

Bucky walked up to Steph and used his vibranium hand to just rip off the sleeves.

“Jesus!” Tony shouted, “we’re going to make a new one.  You didn’t have to go and do that!”

Bucky just shrugged and said, “this one was next to useless to her as is, and we have some training to do.”

Tony was working away on his tablet with a glimmer in his eye that had Pepper and Natasha saying simultaneously, “Tony, put it on the screen right now.”

He scoffed but did as they demanded and I reached over and smacked him over the head so neither Steph or Steve had to.  “I said make it sleeveless, not turn her into a porno character in a flimsy excuse for a corset!”

"Bruce, I'm hurt.  You should know by now that nothing I build is flimsy!"

Natasha ripped the tablet out of Tony’s hands without any fanfare and she and Pepper hunched over it.  We all watched on the screen as they attached some solid, supportive straps and eased the plunging neckline up to a still feminine but mostly demure and understated level.  They changed Steph’s skirt back to the main blue color, made it a little longer and looser to give her more movement but removed the long pants.  When she opened her mouth to complain, Natasha didn’t even look up just said, “Steph, of course it is a skort.”

"Is a skort..." Bucky started.

"Exactly what it sounds like-- a skirt with shorts built into it.  It'll keep Steph from accidentally flashing the world her lady bits," replied Darcy which got fits of laughter out of Steph and Hill of all people.

Natasha and Pepper exchanged more words back and forth, altered the lines on the sides to work better with the skirt and the details on the boots to give them a more lightning-esque shape.

“JARVIS, please get this version made as quickly as possible.  Tony, Bruce, you save this first design in case she wants it back and regardless start working on the material.  Get her something so that the electricity can freely flow through the whole thing uniform without harming her or being buffered if she gets wet or has to use the big pulse or something else we don’t know about yet.”

Tony grumbled but I just said, “of course we will.  Now, let’s get training, but no electricity this morning.  JARVIS-- how long to fabricate?”  

“Approximately two hours for this design with the current materials as a functional prototype because we have them available onsite.  How long for the new material will depend on what the material is in the end.”

“Alright, let’s do this!” Steph said enthusiastically starting to walk out the door.  

 

Steve grabbed her by the now torn sleeve, “change your shoes first, Steph.  We’ll add that pair in later, just in case, and the other lower heel, but for now, best to be in the flats until you’re more comfortable with the whole getup.  You’ll heal a broken ankle quickly, but it will still hurt.”


	18. You Fit

_**Bucky’s POV** _

 

Seriously, we were wasting so much damn time on this uniform.  Although, as Natasha pointed out, it wasn’t like I had anything better to do.  I just… didn’t really care.  At least I was pretty sure I’d figured out why it was so important to Natasha, Tony, Pepper and Steve, even if they hadn’t come right out and told Steph or the rest of the team yet.  Which made the process a little more tolerable to deal with.  They wanted her to be comfortable and confident, sure, but they also wanted her to be a persona that the public knew, liked, and could possibly even see themselves in her place.  Sure people knew and liked Steve, but people held Captain America up to such inhumanly high standards they couldn’t really feel that they personally related to him.  If I wasn’t missing my mark, and I never did, Steph and Sam would be doing a large chunk of PR work both alongside and without Steve.

 

Sometimes it is convenient to be an assassin that terrifies the majority of the world, and any time PR assignments were handed out was definitely one of those times.

 

So, after giving them a reasonable amount of time to fiddle with Steph's uniform, resolving the immediate concern for the day, and generally losing any remaining patience I had for the task for the morning, I led the charge down to the gyms giving Darcy a quick see-you-later nod.

 

As we worked through various drills and scenarios, I found my mind mostly occupied with that.  Working with a team again, which I really hadn't done since the Howling Commandos, required practicing formations and what was almost like fight-choreography.  Not to mention the difficulty and importance of making sure that we were all working with the same vocabulary.  

 

Still, I found the time to observe Steph and Steve together.  It was crazy to see how comfortable they were with each other and how they seemed to flow together already.  Steve and I had talked while Steph slept on the living room floor yesterday before the rest of the team joined us about how "fast" it very well might seem to the others and the public.  But Steve and I had so much taken away from us for seventy years that neither of us really felt the need to arbitrarily inflate time just to fit other people’s expectations.  It only mattered to us that our women were happy and comfortable with whatever pace we were moving at.  And by all appearances, Steph was definitely both those things.

 

When the call came in that the new version of Steph’s uniform was ready, we decided to take a break and meet back up in the living room in an hour.  Tony tried for 15 minutes, but when Steph mentioned wanting a shower first, even though she’d just be getting her uniform dirty anyway when we started training in it, Steve got a gleam in his eye and said the break would be one hour.  We all declined to share the elevator up with the two of them.

 

I waited around until everyone had left then I made a quick phone call before asking JARVIS for Darcy’s location.  Making my way down to the lab where Darcy was working, I couldn’t help myself.  I just leaned against the doorway for a good ten minutes watching Darcy and the way she moved when she thought no one was watching.  She had music blaring out of the lab speakers as she was walking around checking on various machines but putting some shimmies and sways to the music into her movements around the room.  I noticed a plate with a little bit of Pop-Tart on it sitting next to Jane, and figured she must be fed for the afternoon.  

 

Finally knowing I didn’t have all that much time, I approached Darcy, chuckling when I caught her with my hands on her gently swaying hips and she jumped in surprise.

 

“How are you so dang quiet?” she murmured, pulling me to her for a swift peck on the lips.

 

“Years of practice?  Spy training?  The fact that I doubt you could hear anyone over this music?”

 

All I got was a soft murmur of acknowledgement in response, so I forged ahead with my purpose, “I’ve got about 45 minutes until I need to be upstairs for the next round of Steph’s uniform fittings.”  I’ll admit, I didn’t manage to control my eye roll at that, so Darcy smacked me gently on the arm.  “I called downstairs to the sushi restaurant and got a table set aside-- have lunch with me?”

 

Rather than responding to me, Darcy looped her arm through mine and pulled me to the door calling out to Jane, “going to lunch, I’ll be back in a bit.”

 

_**Steve's POV** _

 

I was leaning against the wall of my shower, holding Steph in my arms after a bout of shower sex and just savoring the feeling of having her close to me.

 

"You can put me down now, if you want."

 

"No." I said sounding, I was sure, like a petulant toddler, so I went with it adding "don't want to."

 

Steph tilted her head back and laughed, and I was struck by how much I loved that sound.  I wanted to spend the rest of my life getting her to make it.  Well, and a few other sounds she'd been making a few minutes ago also.  Holding her close, I shut off the water, grabbed a couple towels and wrapped us up in them as I set Steph on the bathroom counter.  Stepping back, I quickly dried myself before moving forward and drying her off.

 

I picked her up again and said, "JARVIS, how much time do we have until we need to meet the others?"

 

"34 minutes, Steve."

 

"Give us a warning at 10 minutes out if we’re not already headed in that direction.  Thanks, JARVIS."

 

With that said, I laid her down on my bed and climbed in facing her propped up on one elbow.  I reached out with my free hand a tucked a piece of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear, amused when it just popped right back where it had been.

 

"You know, I spent a lot of time after the Battle of New York before I reported in to SHIELD just wandering.  Nothing was home; nothing felt right.  I went around the country on my motorcycle just trying to, I don't know, ignore that fact.  Numb the pain.  Try to find a way to pretend it wasn't real."

 

"And grieve," Steph supplied.

 

"Yes, and grieve.  There were women, long days of driving, moving around from city to city.  That didn't really work," I smiled at Steph's snort that said she really wasn't surprised by that information.  "So I went to DC and I tried burying myself in work.  I took any mission they'd give me.  Didn't take any vacations.  I had an apartment off-site, but I really only used it if I needed to get away from SHIELD to think or something.  Natasha and I got partnered in the field and she was always trying to convince me to go out and have fun, but I just wasn't interested."

 

"That would interfere with your denial through work strategy."  When Steph said that, I felt relieved that maybe she understood which was confirmed by, "hey, I know a thing or two about denial.  I have spent more than a little time in Denial Land in my day.  Like when that gang hitman was after me-- Denial Land!  Anyway, you were saying..."

 

I flopped down onto my back, pleased when Steph moved in so that her head was nestled on top of my shoulder and her hand was on my chest, stroking it in a soothing manner.

 

"When I realized that Bucky was The Winter Soldier, it was a catalyst in my mind that made me reevaluate everything since I'd woken up from the ice.  I may have stopped HYDRA once, and I was sure as hell going to do it a second time, but I'd also let them defeat me on a personal level.  They'd taken SO MUCH from me-- Bucky who was my only remaining family, Peggy who was my first real infatuation, and just my desire to live the kind of life I’d always wanted where I had a family and made a home for myself and that family.  And I was letting them have that victory, so I decided that once I’d found Bucky and helped him recover and remember who he was that I would work on finding that life for myself.”

 

We laid there in silence for a short while, but I really wanted Steph to see and hear my sincerity as I finished the conversation, so I sat up and pulled her upright onto my lap.  I brought my hands up to gently cup each side of her face and made sure she was looking at me.

 

“I thought it would take me a while to find someone that I could have that with,” my voice cracked a little which made me wince internally.  “But suddenly there you were, and you just fit.  You fit so well into that broken half of my soul.  And the serum has nothing to do with it, it’s just you, Stephanie Plum.  It’s your kindness and the fact that you can care so deeply for perfect strangers that you were trying to comfort me when you thought you might die.  And it’s your strength and your bravery that had you fighting against the serum that was, at the time, again, basically killing you to complete your mission and make sure I knew about the Tower, my team, and Bucky.  I’m sure Heimdall saw a million ways that we could have met, and I’d bet that I fell in love with you in every one, even without the serum.”

 

Steph poked at her serum-enhanced ab muscles and said, “yeah, but the serum’s a bonus, huh?”

 

Still holding her face in mine I laughed and said, “you’re forgetting.  I saw the whole package before the serum started working, Sweetheart, and trust me, you were fine either way.  Much better off than I was, without it, that’s for sure.  Leaps and bounds better.  Stop distracting me though because I’ve almost made my point.  Steph, I love you.  I’m sure of it.  I know it has only been a few days since we met, but I’m absolutely certain in this.  So, I want you to know that, and also that you’re in the driver’s seat here.  I don’t want to push you too far too fast, so you just let me know both in terms of personal relationship milestones, but also dealing with the public.  Because we were lucky on our night out that we didn’t get recognized, but if we do go out and get seen, I’m not going to play coy or deny, unless that’s what you want."

 

“Don’t you go worrying that somehow I’m not taking this as seriously as you, and please, please I hope you know that I’m not in this for Captain America, the super-hot soldier.  I love you for who you are too, Steve.”

 

I couldn’t help but tease her with, “yeah, but the serum’s a bonus, huh?” and a playful shove.

 

She looked shamelessly at my body like I was a steak and she was starving before licking her lips and saying, “oh, definitely.  Definitely…” she trailed off for a moment in thought, and as we didn’t have any time for the things I was pretty sure she was contemplating, I poked her until she was back in the real world.  “I’m okay with people finding out-- I’m kinda planning on you being it for me.  And believe me, I feel possessive enough just hearing you mention random past women who didn’t mean anything to be perfectly fine telling the world, ‘this is Steve.  Steve is mine.’  So let’s just be us, and let whatever happens happen on that front.  How would you recommend I handle my, ah, growth spurt though?  I need to go to Trenton to talk to the police about the bombing of my old apartment and car.  They need my signature on some things, and there is no way they’re not going to notice.”

 

“So you go to Trenton, or if you’re okay with it, we go to Trenton-- I want to see where you’re from.  I think you’re right, you won’t be able to hide the fact that you’re taller, so tell people whatever you want, but I would recommend figuring out what it is you do want to say before someone asks the question.  I think it is probably best if we don’t mention the electricity or you joining the Avengers for as long as possible.  Again, just as an element of surprise thing."

 

"Okay, so you’re saying don’t go out in my shiny new uniform?”

 

“No, I wouldn’t recommend it.  Now, what do you say we go downstairs before we get distracted so that you can try on the new one?”

 

I got out of bed and pulled my uniform back on quickly before sending a questioning glance Steph’s way when I saw that she was still laying in my bed naked.  Something I didn’t have an issue with in principal, but that wasn’t what we were doing right now.  She smiled at me beseechingly, so I just scoffed and said, “be right back.”

 

I wandered downstairs where most of the team had gathered again, ignoring their knowing looks as I walked over to the spot where the uniform was hanging again and grabbed it.  As I walked back up the stairs I hollered back to the team, “we’re going to have to cut this afternoon’s training short-- the Trenton cops need to talk to her about her apartment and car being bombed.” Letting them deal with explaining what had happened to Thor and Sif as I heard Sif loudly verifying that a bomb was exactly what she thought it was.

 

When I opened the door to my rooms, I was greeted by the sight of Steph in one of my shirts folding the first uniform and setting it to the side on a chair.  I knew she’d heard me come in, so she knew I was watching her as she casually walked over to my closet and peeked in.  I was fine with it, she could snoop as much as she wanted.  There was nothing in here that I wasn’t okay with her finding.  One wall of the closet was filled with a couple copies of all my different Captain America gear-- in both the patriotic style and the stealth style I was wearing right now.  The rest of the closet was pretty empty.  Not nearly as much as it would have been last year, but still. I wasn’t a huge clothes person like Bucky, or from what I could easily tell so far, Steph.

 

“You know, I don’t mind getting you clothes from your room when we stay here and you need clean clothes, but if you want, you can leave some in there as well.  Then you’ll have more choice and don’t have to deal with whatever nightmare of mismatching I might accidentally select.”

 

“Mmm, I never say no to more closet space.  Maybe you should use the space I clear out of my closet to put some of your things there.  You know, just in case.”

 

“Yeah, I can do that.  Anyway, this is for you.”

 

“I should hope so, Love, I don’t think it would fit you," she retorted, taking the bag out of my hands.  My grin widened upon hearing that endearment.  Something told me I might not hear it often, but I was definitely a fan.  When she didn't seem to mind my presence, I reclined on my bed leaning against the wall with my hands behind my head.  

 

Watching her pull each piece out with reverence I schooled my voice to make it calm and confident when I said, "I know you're nervous, Steph, but you can do this.  You can be The Hunter; hell, you already are.  You hunted down five of us who didn't want to be found."

 

"Sam doesn't count, he was flying commercial under his own name."

 

"Fine, four."

 

"I had help."

 

"And you'll have help now.  That’s the whole point of a team; you work together and each person is stronger because of it.  You CAN do this.  If you think I’m just shining you on, ask the others. I'm always honest."

 

She looked at me for a moment, just studying my expression before taking a deep breath and nodding resolutely.  

 

"Hell yeah, I can.  Won't even be the craziest thing I've ever done."

 

I was going to ask her what the craziest thing was when she whipped my shirt back off over her head, and I got distracted by my new view.

 

There was another pair of the thin, smooth undergarments in the same custom-blue color of her uniform like I'd pulled off of her earlier, though these lines seemed altered, probably to better fit under the new uniform cut.  She didn't struggle too much as she pulled the uniform on this time.  Or at least, compared to what she described of her struggles putting on the previous one, probably because it was just smaller.  She didn't have to drag as much of the tight material over her skin.

 

Once she had it all zipped up, she pulled on her boots then did a slow spin in front of the mirror on my closet door.  Finally she turned and looked at me to say, “I like it.  What do you think?”

 

“You look great, but I’m hoping they get that material developed for you soon so we can get your long sleeves back and your legs covered.  No, don’t look at me like that.  It isn’t because I’m being possessive and jealous and trying to shield you from the world.  Although if you can tell the world that I’m yours, I can only assume I’m allowed to tell them that you’re mine.”  I nodded in satisfaction when she indicated her agreement.  “Anyway, it’s because it seems like when we’re in the field, there’s always glass and bits of various types of shrapnel flying everywhere.  Not to mention getting tossed and sliding on the street or something when you’ve got that much skin showing isn’t going to feel very good.”

 

“Like why you wear appropriate attire when riding a bike if you have any real sense of self-preservation.  Yes, I get it.  But, we both know I’ll heal cuts and road rash quickly if I need to, so I think this is preferable for now.  This way if someone grabs me, I have an easier time getting free.”

 

I didn’t like the idea of her getting grabbed either, but that was something I’d have to learn to deal with because it was bound to happen.  When it did though, I sure as hell wanted her to be able to light them up.  “Agreed.”  To lighten the mood and chase those thoughts out of my head, I said, “Hey, if I’m going to Trenton with you this afternoon, want to ride together on one of my bikes?”

 

“Of course you can come, though be warned, things are bound to get screwy.  Especially given how long I’ve been gone.”

 

 


	19. Trenton

_**Steph's POV** _

Steve and I had gone to separate apartments after the second batch of training for the day to quickly prepare for our trip out to Trenton. I'd tried to give him the rundown of what to expect, but the truth of the matter was that I wasn't even sure what to expect. I'd been gone for almost three months, and though I had some brief phone conversations with my mother (to stop her from calling), the girls from the bonds office, Mary Lou, and various Merry Men, I hadn't given a lot of details about my new life and I knew the Burg would be shy on details. And when the Burg was shy on details, the Burg made up details. Hell, even when the Burg was drowning in details, they still made up their own, more sensational details. And at least I knew that those who had slightly more details, the Merry Men, and to some extent Mary Lou, would keep those details to themselves.

Still, it was with a little bit of trepidation and reluctance that I finished swiping on my mascara, pulled on a leather jacket that matched my boots, and walked down to the common floor. Steve was already waiting for me, lounging against a wall with his shield leaning against his leg, as I'd bet myself he would be. And the rest of the team was spread around the room, just as I'd guessed they would be.

When I walked in Clint stood up and asked, "are you sure you don't want backup?"

I gave him a grateful smile but shook my head which prompted Tony to stand up. When I noticed the syringe in his hand, I just pulled back my hair and tilted my head to the side allowing him to step forward and implant the tracker and communicator in me.

"Will it hold up against my electricity?" I asked.

Tony just scoffed, "of course it will, I made it! I also made these," he said, indicating to the two motorcycle helmets that were sitting on the coffee table. One was clearly Steve's as it was in his color of blue with a big star on each side, and the other was in the color blue of my uniform with no embellishments on it. "Don't worry, I'll put the logo on it once you've been publicly announced as part of the team. I figured better hold off until then though. Now, JARVIS is fully functional in there if you call on him, and he can turn the visor into a screen if he needs to. As far as your trackers are concerned, he'll know when you have the helmet on and only speak to you through that so you don't have to hear everything twice and there isn't any feedback. Otherwise, unless you're asking him for anything he'll leave you two alone, but you'll be able to talk back and forth with each other easily."

"Are you taking one motorcycle or two?" asked Natasha.

Steve looked at me, leaving that decision in my hands, so I smiled at him and said, "just one."

"It's the middle of the afternoon, so the paps are out," Natasha warned.

"We've talked about it, and it's fine."

When we got down to the garage, I watched as Steve affixed his shield onto the side of the bike and climbed on.

"You're going to have to stay close so that I can reach that in a hurry without you being in the way if I need it." There was something about the smile on his face that let me know that probably wasn't true, but I was willing to play the game his way for now.

"Sure, no problem." I pulled my helmet on then slid on behind him making sure every inch of my body that could be was pressed as close to his as possible. Sliding my arms around him for good measure, I wiggled in a little more and asked, "good?"

His hand slid down to squeeze my knee as he said, "better than." He turned the bike on and revved the engine just a little before saying, "here we go" and we were out like a flash. As expected, there were cameras and fans, but it was somewhat easy to lose them and dodge through traffic in the motorcycle. I watched the city pass by before letting out a big sigh as we made it out onto the highway.

"Still nervous?"

"I just... I've enjoyed being gone, and I don't know what to expect. I don't like it. And there aren't a lot of good answers to 'hey Steph why did you suddenly grow much taller in your thirties?' when you get down to it."

"Got an answer ready? I'd recommend something as close to the truth as you feel comfortable."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Truth, Justice, and the American Way!"

I heard Steve's laugh in response. "Pretty sure that's Superman's line, Hon."

"Well, since he's not real, it won't bother him if you borrow it. I mean Super Soldier, Superman. Potato potahto, right?"

I could both hear and feel Steve's chuckle, and I snuggled in a little again, perfectly content in the moment. JARVIS sent a unintrusive beep to alert us before Sam's voice came on the line.

"Hey you crazy kids. How's the drive going?"

"Good. We made it out of the city easily enough and we're well on our way now. Not that we don't love hearing from you, but what's up? Miss us already?"

"Just wanted to let you know you definitely stirred the hornets nest on your way out. They recognized Steve, so I'd say you can expect a crowd on your way back in to the Tower. Possibly while you're doing your business if you take very long, Steve gets noticed, and word gets out."

"So that's almost certainly going to happen. I mean, Steve's, well, you know, Steve. So he's pretty obvious, plus he has the shield with him."

"Roger that. You guys want backup in Trenton?"

"Nah. There's no need to drag you all into whatever this trip turns into."

"We don't mind, Steph," Clint's voice cut in, "hell most of us come from backgrounds that are much, much more fucked up than yours."

"It's not even your problem," Bruce added gently. "It's the people in that stupid town who can't see the value in who you are."

Steve reached one hand off the handles long enough to squeeze my hands that were resting on his chest. "Thanks," I murmured, to both the group and Steve offering his silent support, "but I still think we'll be alright."

"Steve?"

"Yeah, I'll take care of her."

"Why are you so quiet?" Bucky asked, "don't you have anything to say? A plan?"

"Steph's in charge, I'm just focusing on making sure I get her there safely. These drivers are..."

He trailed off and I heard laughter from the team about Steve having something less than kind to say about people. He didn't do that much unless they were enemies.

I chatted with the team for a little while longer before saying goodbye to pay attention to where we were so I could give Steve directions. The ride really did seem to fly by and before I could think about chickening out, Steve was parking in the Trenton Police lot. I took my time climbing off the bike then pulling off my helmet. When I had it off and put it on his bike, Steve pulled me into him for a quick kiss and hug.

He grabbed my left hand in his right while pulling his shield off and securing it to the custom magnetic holster on his back with his left. I knew it would draw extra attention my way, but having my hand in his was giving me so much comfort that I couldn't bring myself to let it go. As soon as we walked in the front door, absolute silence fell over the place. I waved to the officer sitting at the front desk- I'd seen him around loads but didn't know his name.

When the lock on the door buzzed, I pulled it open and was greeted almost instantly by the same silence that had been in the front. As I walked over to Eddie's desk, I could hear the whispers following us. Whispers I could clearly understand now thanks to my improved hearing. Before I reached my destination, I heard a hesitant voice say from my right, "Pumpkin?"

Spinning, I let go of Steve's hand and launched myself into my father's arms. Hugging him tight I whispered, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Pumpkin." Eddie interrupted long enough to guide us into a small conference room. "You hardly called and you haven't visited. When I found out you'd be coming into town, I asked Eddie to let me see you."

"I know, Dad, I'm sorry, but every time I called, Mom would start yelling, and I just couldn't take it anymore. And I was really busy with work, like you wouldn't believe."

"And with your new friend here."

"Oh my gosh! Dad, Eddie, this is my boyfriend Steve. Steve, this is my dad, Frank." I watched as they shook hand then indicated Eddie and said, "this is my friend and cousin-by-marriage Eddie Gazarra."

They shook hands before Eddie said, to his credit very calmly, "And by Steve you mean Captain Steven Rogers aka Captain America then."

"Yep, that's the one!" I said, throwing a wink Steve's way.

My father looked at the two of us and said, "so... How exactly did you meet, and how did you get so tall?"

"Well, I've been working for Stark Industries in Avengers Tower, so we met through that. And as for getting taller, I had an incident in a lab, and it made me taller."

My dad squared off with Steve and said, "and where were you when this incident happened?"

I laughed and said, "leave him alone, he wasn't there, but he showed up quickly and got me to safety. He probably saved my life, and since then he's been working like crazy to make sure it doesn't happen again!" Everything I said was the truth, just carefully worded. I might have implied that the lab was in Stark Tower, and that the incident was more an accident than a purposeful, evil act. And that Steve was in building security making sure such lab accidents didn't happen, rather than training me to fight so it wouldn't happen again, but I didn't say those things. I just let them draw their own conclusions from sneaky wording.

"Well, alright. As long as you're taking care of my baby."

"Always, sir."

"Okay, I promised Eddie I wouldn't delay you for too long, but here's a phone number. It's my new cell phone. Call this to say hi and let me know how you're doing. I'll have it on me, so you won't have to talk to your mother." I gave him another big hug and he said, "can we set up a day for me to come into the city and take you out for dinner."

"Tell you what, Dad. I make good money now. You come into the city and save me the trip out here, and dinner is my treat, okay?"

"Sure, Pumpkin. If that's how you want it, we can work it that way the first time."

"Okay, then pick a day and we'll make it happen."

He thanked Eddie and said goodbye to Steve. Once he was out the door, Eddie started looking sheepish, and scared whenever he looked at Steve. Finally after fidgeting for a few seconds he said, "Steph, we've got some new brass and well... I found out just before you got here that I'm not allowed to take your statement. The lead detectives on the cases have to do it."

I smiled reassuringly, "that's fine, Eddie. Just go get them, and I'm sure it will be okay."

He loudly said, "I'll go get them then, it was great seeing you and meeting you, Steve." As he gave me a hug and shook Steve's hand, he whispered quietly, "Steph, you might want Steve to call a lawyer for you. Now."

"JARVIS," Steve whispered quietly.

Through our implanted comms, JARVIS replied in an almost bored tone, "I've replayed the last few seconds of conversation, and I understand your concern. I'm checking to see what other than Steph's apartment and car they could want to talk to her about, and backup is on the way." I knew he always ran in the background but had extremely strict privacy protocols and wouldn't divulge something, like the conversation we'd just had, when we had the expectation of privacy from the others unless we were in danger or needed assistance. So, as we had learned, common areas of the Tower were fair game, but this trip, our dates, time in our private rooms, and other similar situations were kept, well, private. It was a little odd to get used to at first, but in the long run, it was worth it.

We sat in the room in silence, knowing very any conversation we had would likely be monitored. It stretched on for around twenty minutes before two detectives, Diaz and Park, finally walked in. They started off by reading me my Miranda Rights "as part of normal procedure to protect us all" and telling me that they would be recording the conversation. They introduced themselves, and paused slightly when they realized who Steve was before asking him to leave.

Steve didn't even flinch, just said in the coolest voice I'd ever heard from him, "I'll stay."

"We'd prefer if you'd leave," said Detective Diaz.

"Ms. Plum is here voluntarily, right?"

"That's right."

"Then I'm staying."

"I want him here. Now what did you want? I thought I just needed to give a statement and sign some documents. My apartment and car were apparently fire bombed, but I haven't seen either since months before that happened."

"And how then did you find out?"

It looked like Diaz was taking the lead. "My friend and former business associate, Ranger Manoso, came out to Manhattan to inform me. He was looking after them while I was gone."

"Ah, yes. We are aware of your  _association_  with Mr. Manoso."

The way Diaz said the word "association" made me feel dirty in a way Ranger certainly never had, and his tone upon saying Ranger's name made it clear what Diaz thought of Ranger.

"Mr. Manoso is a friend and mentored me when I was bounty hunting. Furthermore, he is a decorated former officer of the U.S. Army Special Forces, a legitimate business owner, and he helps the law enforcement community maintain order in Trenton."

"And yet you no longer are employed by him."

"I was never officially employed in any kind of long-term, steady position. I was contracted out or hired to temp jobs on an as-needed basis."

"I'll just bet you found yourself 'needed' quite often."

Steve stiffened next to me, and I just dug my fingers into his thigh where they were resting, indicating for him to stay seated and calm despite Diaz's insinuation.

"I repeat. Why am I here? I'm sure you had in mind more than gossip and getting the inside scoop on my past with Rangeman."

"So, you are aware of the fact that your apartment and car were destroyed in a case of arson. An apartment and car which our investigation into your financials has indicated that you were on the verge of being unable to afford."

"Before I left, sure. But I had another week, and I would have gotten there. Not to mention I am perfectly comfortable now, so if I'd waited this long, why would I do anything now? I can afford both now."

"Ms. Plum, where were you on the night of October 17? And the night of October 18?"

Okay, October 17 was the day of Toronto which meant that was the day the firebombing happened, but, "what happened on October 18?"

Steve was still sitting next to me like he didn't have a care in the world, but I felt his leg muscles tense under my hand. From the corner of my eye, I could see him assessing the room, no doubt trying to figure out if he could break us out of it without having to go through the precinct if he felt he needed to. I was sure he could, but I just patted him gently on the knee and waited.

Detective Parks slid some photographs across the table in front of me and I stared down at an alive but very beat-up Mario.

"That happened, and now Mario has pressed charges against you claiming that you did this to him." Parks stared at me for a few minutes, waiting to see if I'd react or incriminate myself before she finally broke the silence and said, "He also says that you bombed your own apartment and car for the insurance money."

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing before I slapped a hand over my mouth.

"What's so funny?" challenged Diaz.

"Well, first of all, I find it funny that you would take the word of a man who runs around with known criminals and is one himself over mine. But second of all, I think it is hilarious that you think I had insurance on those. I couldn't really afford to eat, or pay rent before I left. I definitely wasn't writing insurance checks! And since I wasn't living there or driving that car, it didn't make sense to do so while I was out of town. Do you have any idea how much each insurance company I went to wanted to charge me for insurance?! Me the 'Bombshell Bounty Hunter' as a client? They didn't want that and I couldn't afford to make them." I'd used air quotes around everyone in Trenton's favorite name for me. I heard a commotion outside and said, "I believe if I'm not mistaken I have some legal representation here."

The door burst open to one Pepper Potts followed by three men I'd never seen before in who were wearing what appeared to be incredibly expensive custom suits. Behind them filed in the entire rest of the Avengers family- Tony, Bruce, Clint, Natasha, Bucky, Sam, and Thor in addition to Maria, Darcy, and Jane. Tony had a piece of paper and pen in hand which he set on the table in front of Steve who quickly read it and then signed the paper. One of the lawyers stepped forward and signed on what looked like a witness line. He then took the piece of paper, set it on top of the stack he was carrying then slammed them down in front of the detectives.

"My name is Brian O'Sullivan and Ms. Plum is my client. In front of you are a stack of documents, each a sworn affidavit, by each person you see in this room as well as twenty Stark Industries medical staff attesting to the fact that Ms. Plum was in Manhattan under medical care and in a coma beginning at 3pm on October 17th and not waking up until October 19th. Now, unless you're going to charge her with something, and claim she did anything  _while in a coma_ , my client will be leaving now. She has been the victim of a crime; she is not a criminal. We will, of course, be filing a complaint with your superior for her treatment."

"Especially the part where you insinuated that she was a prostitute," Steve interrupted angrily.

O'Sullivan took that in stride continuing, "Oh did they now? Then, yes, especially that part. We will also be bringing this whole situation to the attention of Mayor Juniak, who is a friend of Ms. Plum's."

"She admitted to driving without proper auto insurance, which is against the law in New Jersey."

Darcy scoffed behind me, and I allowed a small smile to pass my lips. The lawyer asked them to play back the conversation before launching into a whole lot of legal mumbo-jumbo. Largely it boiled down to the fact that I'd admitted to not having insurance on the car while I owned it, but not to driving it while it was uninsured. We all waited patiently for Diaz to write out a formal warning to put into my record. He handed it to me and O'Sullivan read it over my shoulder then had me sign it. O'Sullivan turned back to Park, who had been reading through the stack of affidavits, and asked, "will that be all?"

"Yes, this all appears to be in order. We thank you for your time."

I stood and held my chin up as I walked out the door, holding on to Steve's hand. As we passed by Eddie's desk, I said to Steve loudly enough for Eddie to hear, "let's go grab some dinner at Pino's. It's my favorite dinner spot in town and I'd love to just relax and talk to some friends there." Seeing Eddie's slight nod, I continued on my way to the parking lot without slowing again.

When we made it to Steve's motorcycle, I let out a breath and said, "well, that I was not expecting. Let's go. I don't want to be here any longer than necessary."

Without another word, we quickly got ourselves situated and made the short drive to Pinos. Along the way, I had JARVIS connect a call for me to let Pino know we were on our way and to push some tables together. I also suggested he get an extra cook or two on the line because they were going to be busy tonight. He told me he'd be glad to see me in his establishment after such a long absence, which I knew meant that he would be happy to see me because he was a nice guy but was also excited for the crowd of people who would go out of their way to come in tonight in hopes of getting the inside track on gossip. And he didn't even know who I was bringing with me.

It was still slightly early for the dinner crowd, so parking wasn't an issue. When I sat down at the table and everyone else had settled down close to me with plenty of extra seats for the people I knew would be joining us, I looked over to Pepper and said, "how'd you get here so fast and who were those lawyers? And did you just leave Sif behind?"

"Sif still doesn't have a knack for blending in, so she decided to stay behind to make things a little easier. Though she did tell us that if we let anything happen to you, she would hurt us all. Admittedly, her way of saying it was much more eloquent, but that's what it boiled down to. As for how we got here so quickly, we took a few minutes to get all those affidavits done. Then it's a really short ride on the Quinjet at max speed, which is parked at Rangeman, and we borrowed some SUVs from Ranger, which we'll return when we pick up the jet. The lawyers are standard lawyers for your division of Stark Industries."

Huh, I hadn't really thought about it, but the Avengers had a team of lawyers. That actually made a lot of sense.

"Some pretty intense collateral on those SUVs, so I figure I can trust you to bring them back. Although, I'd be okay with trading them for the jet if you decide to keep the SUVs," came Ranger's voice, and I quickly stood up to give him a hug hello.

When he had settled in a couple seats down from me, I leaned over and hissed out in a whisper, "Ranger, what the  _hell_  did you do?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Babe. As the police are well aware, my employees and I were taking care of business that night, and we all have verifiable alibis that place us somewhere other than in Mario's presence." His eyes met mine and he knew that I knew the score, but, through unspoken agreement, we wouldn't discuss it further. That is after I whispered my thanks to him. I guess now I knew why he'd been okay with waiting a couple days to visit me in Manhattan. He'd found something else to do to pass the time and someone on whom take out his frustration.

"And if any of those alibis were to wind up being less than iron clad, you'd give me a call," said Tony. The waitress came over and when everyone asked what was good and I gave them my standard order, Tony made it meatball subs all around with Ranger politely declining.

We passed the time waiting for our food chatting and joking as though it was any other day. I was trying to ignore the gawkers who started rolling in, camera phones out, but it seemed the rest of my group was pretty used to it. Except Ranger, but nothing ever really seemed to bother Ranger. Not to mention I'd noticed a few Merry Men blending into the crowd, which was probably helping with Ranger's calm. Most of the crowd weren't even attempting to hide the fact that they were there to watch our group. When Eddie strode in twenty minutes after we arrived, everyone at the table stiffened up.

"No, it's fine. That wasn't Eddie's fault; he's always been on my side."

"Of course, Steph. I told them they were wrong the first time, and I thought they believed me. They told me to get you to come in and sign a report, that's all. I'm really sorry about what happened in there."

"Like I said, it's not your fault. Come, have some dinner. Though, if Shirley has you on a diet again, I can assure you she'll hear about it if you eat one of these subs. We've got an audience tonight."

"Nah, no food for me, I'm good. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I also want you to know that Mario is out for you, even though you've been gone for a few months now. He hasn't forgotten your name, he hasn't forgotten you, and word around town is he's out for your blood. Seems he didn't have the best time in the pen and thinks it was all your fault." When I laughed, Eddie caught my gaze, "I'm serious Steph. This is no laughing matter. I see who you're hanging out with, but don't let it get to your head. You need to keep an eye out and be on guard, especially whenever you're in Trenton. You have a lot of friends here, but Mario isn't the only skip to hold a grudge. He could be working with any or many of them."

Seeing genuine concern in Eddie's eyes, I nodded my head. "We'll be careful, I promise, Eddie."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry to have missed Tuesday's update! I'll make it up to you by posting one this weekend. Long story short- don't travel to New England in January!


	20. A Little Excitement

_**Steve's POV** _

Well, Steph had let me know that I would need to expect some excitement when we were in Trenton, but I didn't think anything that happened was quite what she had planned on happening. I knew it wasn't what I was expecting. Seeing her father had been a pleasant surprise as she'd expressed regret for the fact that it was going to be a quick trip and she wouldn't be able to visit him. I knew it was a big relief to her that she was able to do so after all. In fact, that alone probably made the rest of the bullshit worth it.

Furthermore, gossipmongers were according to plan, even her having to answer a few questions in the police station. But what was unplanned was her being questioned  _like a criminal_  and forced to provide an alibi. While I was grateful for the backup having the whole team provided, I felt bad that we were now drawing way more attention as a group than Steph had wanted. She seemed to be taking it in stride though, politely conversing with those who had the guts to actually approach the table. Introducing us, if I wasn't mistaken, only to serve the purpose of identifying to us those she deemed to be friends and potential future allies if needed.

Once we'd eaten our subs, Steph, Bucky, Bruce and I ordered another round. Casually I draped my arm across the back of Steph's chair, ecstatic when she scooted her chair right up next to mine so she could lean all the way into me. Then again, she'd been introducing me as her boyfriend all day, so her shying away from the gesture had been unlikely. When I started noticing a few more professional quality cameras out, I knew we had crossed into the territory of putting on a show for more than just Trenton.

She stayed where she was but I felt every muscle in her body tense when two women walked up to us who definitely bore a resemblance to Steph. They stopped by the end of the table next to us, standing and waiting expectantly.

"Stephanie," the older woman said without a single hint of motherly warmth, though there was not a doubt in my mind that was who the woman was. "Are you going to introduce us to your friends?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Don't be rude, Stephanie. I raised you better than that."

I heard Steph mutter "debatable" under her breath and I had to keep from laughing. This woman who had my heart sure was full of fire and a never-ending reluctance to let  _anyone_  tell her what to do. I watched Steph's emotions play across her face as she figured the different ways this could go. And I caught her gaze flickering over the various paparazzi who had managed to wander into the restaurant as well. Eventually I saw resignation as she realized what was probably the easiest way to get us out of here without a confrontation. She stayed seated but introduced everyone at the table to her mother and sister.

The waitress chose that moment to bring out our additional sandwiches, so Steph refocused her attention and started eating hers, pointedly ignoring the shocked look on her mother's face. I had a feeling this might take an ugly turn, so I picked up my sandwich to make quick work of it in case we found ourselves needing to make a fast exit.

"Stephanie!" Now her voice was shocked and trying to be hushed as she chastised Steph. "I can see you've already had one of those, what are you doing eating more? What will people think?"

I paused for a moment having no idea where she was going with that. If they actually cared, people would just think Steph was hungry. But Steph's snort and world-class eye roll told me she knew where this was going and that wasn't it.

"They'll think you're  _expecting_ ," Mrs. Plum continued.

"I don't think they'll think that unless you tell them to. But if they do, feel free to reassure them I'm not," Steph replied before picking up her sub again and going back to eating it while ignoring her mother.

"Honestly, there's no need to pull that tone with me!"

There was no tone, I thought to myself as Steph said the same. We were all letting Steph take lead on the interaction, and I sent Pepper a look of gratitude when I saw her signal for, and quickly take care of, the check. A glance told me that Bucky and Thor had also finished eating their sandwiches so we were good to go whenever Steph wanted.

"We haven't seen you in months, and now you ignore us. You should have let me know you were going to be in town and come over for a proper dinner."

"Mom, are you trying to say this isn't a proper dinner? Aren't you here to pick some up for yourselves?"

"You know what I meant, Stephanie."

"I do. Let's just say I assumed I wouldn't be welcome. At least not without another lecture about my life choices and a healthy dose of guilt tripping! Possibly also a matchmaking attempt, which you would have persisted with even when I told you I didn't need one because I was dating someone."

"Well, I wouldn't have to lecture you repeatedly if you'd stop being so immature and just listen. You just need to find a  _good_  man to marry and then quit your silly job." Uh oh, I saw the other women at the table bristle at that comment, and managed to tamp down my own anger at the implication that I wasn't a good man while she continued. "And, honestly, where do you think your grandmother got the idea to go to that place?! You should feel guilty."

"Well, it wasn't from me, mother, but if Grandma had asked me if I thought it was a good idea, I would have told her it was her life and she should live it however made her happiest. After all, she was always reassuring me of that fact, and I appreciated it. I would have gladly returned the favor. She was having fun, Mother, and she wasn't hurting anyone."

"She was being immature and selfish just like you- she saw you do it, and that's where she got the idea."

"She certainly did not see me go to a strip club, but I'll concede that she saw me living my life how I wanted. That being said, she lived a lot longer than I have. I'm sure that she'd seen plenty of people doing whatever made themselves happy in her time before I even came along. Some of them probably did things much worse than anything I've ever done. And believe me, she really wasn't all that impressionable otherwise you would have won a long time ago as far as her behavior was concerned."

Steph finished off her sub and started to get up, so I hastily stood and pulled out her chair. A small smile played across her face at the gesture and she reached up and gave me a kiss on the cheek before whispering her thanks.

"Well, I can't say it was all that much of a pleasure seeing you, Mother, Valerie, but I am glad you appear to be well. Give my best to the girls, Valerie, and let them know Aunt Steph misses them. We'll be going now."

On our way out, Steph darted into the kitchen gesturing that she'd meet us outside. I was starting to get a little nervous about how long she'd been gone when she came through the door to the parking lot. She had a couple big bags with her and held them out to Bucky as she said, "a gift for the team from Pino. Don't let the men at Rangeman con you out of that on your way through the office- I expect some when we get home!" It was at that comment that I caught the faint smell of chocolate and laughed at the incredulous stares our teammates were giving Steph.

Everyone started piling in cars and I walked over to the bike, stowing my shield and putting on my helmet watching in my peripheral vision as Steph walked Ranger to his car, exchanged a couple words, then gave him a quick hug. Seconds later she was jogging over to me and I held her helmet out to her. Once it was on and she was pressed up to my back, I ran a hand up and down her thigh really quickly.

"Okay, Sweetheart. Where do you want to go now?"

"Take me home, Steve. Bonus points if you make it in under an hour."

It was about a seventy-five minute drive in a car without traffic, so I'd have to push it, but I figured that should be easily accomplished on the bike. "Piece of cake. What do I get with these points?"

Steph gave a throaty laugh and flattened her hands before sliding them from my chest down closer to my belt buckle then back up and whispering, "oh, I'm sure we can think of something."

I took a moment to get my breathing under control before saying, "JARVIS, start the clock," and peeling out of the lot. We had almost made it to the highway when I noticed something other than paparazzi in my mirrors. "Steph! Hang on. We've got company."

I took extra turns to try to lose them and when they hung around after the third turn, the shots started.

"JARVIS, panic button!" Steph yelled, and I took a second to think that was a really weird way of phrasing that. But given the situation, I guess she wasn't thinking too much about her phrasing and it did get the point across. When she paused briefly in giving information to JARVIS, I asked her how to get somewhere less populated, hoping to cut down the chance of civilians getting caught in the line of fire. I was also hoping to get us out of sight of cameras if possible. Two big black SUVs came flying in from my right and I glanced over, unable to get a look at the drivers through tinted windows. "Those are friendlies, Steve!"

As I took the last of Steph's directions, I realized she'd guided us to a cemetery, which was creepy. Because it was after dark, however, it also seemed to be empty. That was a relief, as was the familiar sound of the Quinjet and the sight of it uncloaking.

"Okay, Steph, on my count lean right hard. Three, two, one, go." We leaned and I executed a sharp right, knees and elbows kissing the ground to put us squarely behind the jet as the others rushed out, weapons drawn. I grabbed my shield and put it and myself between Steph and the cars that had been chasing us. In less than a minute we had all the men cuffed and our weapons stashed.

Darcy, Pepper, and Jane had stayed huddled in the jet with Thor guarding them, and, for the most part, been silent. So when Jane suddenly gasped Steph's name I whipped around and saw that Steph had gone and sat on the ground next to the bike. I ran over, sliding the last bit on my knees when I smelled blood.

"Why didn't you say something, Steph?"

"Wasn't anything to do until we got them taken care of," she gritted out. Realizing she was right, I held my tongue and reached down to carefully pick her up. "Not that I didn't enjoy the ride, but you think I can make the rest of the trip home in the jet? I'm not really thinking the bike is going to be comfortable tonight. Maybe by morning."

I laid Steph down on the floor of the jet and eased her jacket off them pulled her shirt up in the back. The bullet had gone through her jacket, skimmed the back of her upper arm, and lodged itself in the back of her shoulder blade. It had to hurt, and I was almost sick knowing what I was going to have to do. How she managed to hold onto me and lean like she had for that last turn I didn't know, but I'd guess force of will and adrenaline were the key factors.

Gesturing Darcy to hand me the med kit, I settled Steph a little more comfortably and slid my jacket under her head. "Steph, listen to me, I'm really sorry about this, but I need to get this out of you right now while it is still fresh so it'll heal, properly okay? Otherwise it'll heal around the bullet and you'll have limited range of motion, or we'll have to do surgery to get it out, and you'll have to be conscious for that. So really it is better to just take care of it now when you're already in pain, okay?"

She gritted her teeth and asked, "who are you trying to convince? Me or you?"

"A little bit of both, Honey. A little bit of both." I pulled on some gloves. Bucky slid into the jet and braced himself holding her down as I worked with the tweezers to grab the bullet and remove it as quickly as possible. Trying to distract her, I asked, "so how is it that you got shot? I thought you had that habit nipped in the bud with all that lightning?"

Steph groaned just a little as I dug before gritting out, "thought we were trying to keep that under wraps, so I held back knowing there were cameras around."

Natasha cleared her throat and said, "yeah, Steph. That would only  _possibly_  be a  _very_  minor tactical advantage down the road, so if the situation comes up again, I think we'd all just prefer that you not allow yourself to get shot."

"Yeah," Darcy added, "and you didn't manage to keep your powers under wraps anyway."

I used my hand and a flashlight to make sure I couldn't see or feel any broken off pieces of the bullet. When I was sure there was nothing that was going to impede the healing, I grabbed the gauze and started bandaging her back.

"Really? I don't remember… oh, shit, yeah I do!" Steph started trying to sit up, but I wasn't done with her back yet so Bucky held her down, "please tell me that worked!"

When I stuck the last piece of tape down, I had Bucky help her up to sitting so she could look at Darcy's phone as I began cleaning and bandaging the graze on the back of her arm, which was already looking better.

"Oh, thank goodness." Steph muttered.

Wanting to know what was going on as I finished up, I looked over at Darcy who just said, "baby in a stroller." Wow. Thank goodness for that lightning, indeed.

After tossing all the trash in a bag, I peeled off my gloves and placed them in the trash as well. I cleaned up my hands and looked up to see the rest of the team, as well as Ranger, his men, and a couple cops, watching.

"She'll be fine, but the medical staff can look her over when we get home. Let's give our statements then get on our way."

Giving our statements, and making sure the cops had everything they needed so we wouldn't have to come back the next day, didn't actually take that long. I carefully wheeled my bike into the jet and strapped it down before gently sliding myself behind Steph and holding her carefully with one arm around her waist below her bust and well away from either of her wounds. She was mostly on her side so that if I had to pull her into me, I hopefully wouldn't hurt her too badly. My other arm was through a nearby harness to secure us both. Natasha and Clint climbed in last, took in my position and nodded their heads before quickly running through preflight and taking off for the Tower. Over the course of the flight, I distracted Steph by talking to her softly.

A couple minutes later, we landed, and I helped Steph to her feet. When we walked into the building from the landing pad, I asked, "JARVIS, time?"

There was a beat of silence before, "fifty eight minutes, Captain."

It had the desired effect when Steph laughed and said, "maybe tomorrow, Dear, I'm afraid I have a bit of a headache tonight," which caused me to snicker in response.

As I continued to help her way toward the waiting medical staff, I heard Tony say, "are they making sex jokes? That's not allowed is it? I mean, he's Captain America! And at a time like this? Really!" in a mock-scandalized voice.

_**Pepper's POV** _

The Avengers had their war room where they could review information before a mission, debrief after a mission, generally review intelligence and global security issues, and do whatever the heck they wanted to do on any given day. It was state of the art and created with flexibility in mind to allow them to accomplish almost anything they wanted at any time. There were even copies of all of their uniforms and most of their, non-unique, weapons as well as ample medical equipment for injuries they should see medical about but usually insisted on treating themselves.

I, however, had my own version of a war room. It was attached to my luxurious office, and my baby was fully locked and loaded for all things PR. Where the Avengers had direct lines to various heads of pretty much every international intelligence agency and government, I had direct lines to every major news outlet. Along with several to the actual television personalities themselves for if I wanted to make an end-run power play around a reluctant studio head. Kicking my shoes off, I put my feet up on the conference table and eyed my choices while I had JARVIS narrating and displaying the various news stories that had begun to break within minutes of Steph exiting the Tower on the back of Steve's motorcycle.

Various news channels, not to mention blood-sucking paparazzi, had been camped out ever since Steph, Steve, and Bucky had been spotted out jogging. With cameras on what they mistakenly believed to be all entrances and exits to the Tower, they were saying that Steph hadn't left and therefore must be living with Steve. Which was marginally true, but not in the way that they meant. First of all, they didn't have all the entrances covered, so she very well could have come and gone dozens of times, and they wouldn't have seen her. Plus, there were enough well-tinted cars that came and went from the building on any given day that they definitely couldn't be certain that she hadn't been in one of them.

As I flicked through all of the different coverage, I noticed that there was one person in particular who seemed to not be playing the game. I instructed JARVIS to please have the team join me once Steph had been cleared from medical before smiling to myself and reaching for the appropriate phone. It was the direct line as I was not pleased with her network's parent company on the whole at the moment.

"Hello, Jackie."


	21. Pre-Interview

_**Steph's POV** _

When JARVIS's voice came through the speaker informing the team, who was gathered around watching as the medical staff poked and prodded at my injury, go to see Pepper as soon as I was released, I groaned. I really just wanted to put on my pajamas and pig out on chocolate cake right about now.

"Oh, don't tell me the big, bad Hunter has been taken down by one teeny, tiny bullet," teased Sam and I growled at him in response.

"I want that cake from Pino's."

"I think we can handle both at the same time," Tony said.

Apparently satisfied, the doctor started re-applying the bandage and shoving me into a sling as she said to Steve, "you did the right thing and a good job of it at that. Steph, keep the sling on for the next couple hours just to keep yourself from moving the arm too much and opening up the wound. You should be completely healed up by morning, I would think. Let us know if that isn't the case or if you have any lingering issues at the injury site."

"I thought I told you that you were not to allow harm to befall Stephanie while she was under your protection," Sif exclaimed from the doorway where she was fixing the team with a murderous glare. The doctor and nurses made a hasty exit, which was rather comical to watch. Cowards.

Hopping up from the table, I straightened my shirt before giving Steve's arm a squeeze and walking over to Sif. I put my good arm through hers and guided her out of the room and to the elevator as I carefully explained how my injury was no one's fault other than possibly mine and really she couldn't be angry at me because I was shot. Then I promised her some fine chocolate cake and it seemed that all was forgiven… for the time being.

"Well, then, tomorrow we'll just have to have you practice dodging and protecting yourself from, what do you call them? Bullets? Yes, bullets. Won't we?"

I stopped short and stared at Sif for a moment before I said, "you're going to shoot at me."

"No, of course not, don't be silly.  _I_  don't know how to fire a gun. Eye of Hawk will shoot at you, for I hear he is quite good at it."

I stood just outside the elevator gaping at Sif trying to figure out how to respond to such a statement. Finally Bruce clapped me on my good shoulder and walked past me to the elevator saying, "don't worry, Stark has the best rubber bullets around."

Just when you think you know them, you realize how fucked up super heroes really are. Shooting at their new teammate. My understanding was rubber bullets still hurt.

Everyone around me laughed and I sighed and looked over at Steve, "seriously?! The serum couldn't fix that?"

"Nope, sorry. I think that problem is unique to the way your brain works." He pressed a kiss to the top of my head and added, "if rubber bullets hurt, then don't get shot."

I pouted up at him and said, "aren't you supposed to be really nice to me while I'm hurt."

"I am being nice to you- I'm giving you very good, friendly advice. Plus I really, really would rather you not get shot again, so any way we can practice to make you good at that, you can bet your very pretty ass we'll be practicing. Rubber bullets are fairly safe and, as Dr. Banner has explained to me on multiple occasions, part of the effects of super serum are that your body tissue, bones, etc. are more dense, which will make you even safer from them. And I trust Barton won't shoot you in the eye and blind you or anything."

"Of course I won't," Clint huffed out in an affronted voice, as though even mentioning the possibility was offensive.

"But just in case, she'll wear goggles as well as protective gear over her vital organs, you freaks," said Sam. "There's no reason to run that kind of risk for training!"

Pepper looked up as we walked in, "what kind of risk for what kind of training?"

"Oh, they're going to have Clint shoot me tomorrow."

"Well, as long as they're done and you're healed by lunch- you have an interview to give tomorrow. All of you. Yes, even you Bruce and Bucky, so don't you try to sneak out. Now, Jackie if you would please pretend you never heard that bit about shooting, I'm sure you can get them to say something equally ridiculous tomorrow anyway."

"Of course," a woman said and I turned to see the face of none other than late night cable talk TV show host Jackie up on the monitors. "Alright, so pre-interview! Let me see the three new Avengers front and center!"

Bucky and Sam stepped forward voluntarily, and I was unceremoniously shoved forward by Natasha.

"Hmmm, very nice. You'd be Sam, Steph, and would you prefer James or Bucky?"

"Bucky, ma'am."

"Just Jackie is fine. Alright, so. Sam we recognize from D.C. And Bucky we recognize from World War Two. Where, pray tell, did you come from Steph, and are the rumors true about you and Captain America?"

For the next couple hours we went through a fairly extensive pre-interview. Or at least it seemed extensive to me. We were told that the actual interview would run through the bulk of the thirty minute show, but that we would interview on camera for longer and additional footage may be available online for fans if there was sufficient good material to warrant it. They'd also be coming by in the morning tomorrow to follow us around during the day and shoot some b-roll footage. Midway through the pre-interview, my phone rang. I flashed my screen to Steve showing him it was Ranger, then stepped out into the hall to take the call.

"Yo."

"Babe." I could hear the laughter in his tone, but it wasn't like the man owned the word!

"How're you feeling?"

"I'm a little sore, but I'm fine. Arm is mostly healed, and the doc says my back will be good as new by morning."

"Handy."

"I'm in the middle of a pre-interview, we're going to be going on Jackie be filming a bunch of stuff tomorrow during the day and then going to her set in the afternoon and evening for a team interview. Sam, Bucky, and I will be announced as new Avengers via press-release in the morning leading up to this whole interview airing thing. This is a weird world I've found myself in, Ranger. All because of you."

"You can still back out if you want, Babe. I'll help you disappear."

"No, it's a good thing. I should be thanking you, Ranger. Powers and becoming an Avenger aside, I needed the change of scene and this ended up being a good fit for me."

"My sources here say the guys you apprehended tonight aren't talking or rolling. They're known associates of Mario, but so far there's no evidence linking Mario to the attack. I'd like to send a couple guys out there to watch you for the time being."

I opened the door and flagged down Steve and Pepper. When they stepped out, I put my hand over the phone speaker and said, "Ranger wants to send a couple guys out to guard me for a while. Says there's no evidence the shooting was Mario and nobody is talking so for the time being he's still out there. Thoughts?"

"We've got an extra suite on the team floors- I can have the office in it converted into a second bedroom and, as long as they can share a bathroom, they can stay there for the time being. We'll feed them and everything," said Pepper, already fully in planning mode. "They can shadow you everywhere, including the interview tomorrow. They're welcome to use the gym and train with you, of course."

She trailed off as she pulled her tablet out and started flipping through things, so I turned to Steve who shrugged, "it's up to you, but as far as I'm concerned, more people can't hurt until this gets resolved. Just on the day-to-day though. If we get a mission, they can't go."

I took my hand off the phone and said, "sure, Ranger, send them. They can trail me anywhere except on a mission if we get one."

"Understood."

"Who are you sending?"

"Hal and Woody. They seemed the least starstruck when they got back from their visit, other than Tank who I need here, so they should be able to guard you without too much distraction."

"Any chance I'm going to be able to pay you for their time?"

"No price, Babe."

"Mmmmmhmmm, we'll talk next time I see you. At any rate, I need to head back into this meeting, is there anything else you need tonight?"

"Nope, that's it. Knock them dead tomorrow, you're awesome. Remember that."

I was speechless for a second because it wasn't like Ranger to dish out compliments like that, but he'd hung up immediately so it didn't matter anyway.

"Who is he sending?" Steve asked.

"Hal and Woody," I said, smiling at Steve's groan. Pepper had stepped back inside, so I pulled Steve down for a thorough kiss. "Don't worry, they'll have their own rooms, and they're too late to stop us from getting together, and I don't plan on letting them keep us from a repeat performance. Now, let's go finish dealing with this pre-interview so we can get on with our night," I finished, giving him a smack on his delectable ass as he turned to open the door back into Pepper's domain.

_**Steve's POV** _

I woke up with Steph asleep in my arms and the sun still not yet even thinking about rising- not that it really mattered in the Tower. JARVIS had the ability to pretty much customize the exact amount of light in our rooms per our preferences. Steph had admitted to needing to lower the previous levels in her rooms after she became exposed to the serum. As it was the room was still very dark, but when I started stirring, JARVIS turned the light up ever so slightly. Just enough that I could see, but not enough to wake Steph up. I checked over her injury site from the day before and was grateful to see it was fully healed without even a trace of a mark left.

Knowing we'd have to begin our day soon and that it would be long and more than a little trying, I hugged Steph just a little closer to me. I knew that I would be spending a good portion of my time from now on trying to make sure I could wake up this way for as many mornings as possible over the course of the rest of my life. As long as I could get Steph on board with the plan, that is. So I rolled myself on top of her and slowly kissed her awake before demonstrating to her the multiple benefits of waking up with me in the morning.

An hour later we had eaten breakfast and stepped into the gym side-by-side, but stopped short when we caught sight of the sheer volume of people and equipment already in the room. It seemed that my hope of at least getting a start to the day's training in peace was dashed already. Turning to Steph we exchanged a look then spun on our heels.

"We're going for a run, we'll be back in 30 minutes."

A film crew followed us, but we both thought we'd be able to ditch them pretty easily. Unfortunately, they seemed prepared for this possibility as they had a few people on a motorcycle who paced us through the whole thing. Still, we were able to get some fresh air, and, as we weren't wearing microphones, we had a little more time to chat and just enjoy each other out from under the microscope.

Walking back into the gym, Sam looked up with a smirk, "so how far did you run today?"

"Just 10 miles," I replied.

A woman stepped forward and said, "but you were only gone 30 minutes."

"What can I say? I slow him down. He can usually do 15 miles in that amount of time, but I'm new at this whole super speed thing." Steph interjected while stepping forward with her hand outstretched, "Hi, I'm Stephanie Plum."

"Jackie. It's a pleasure to meet you all in person this time, and thanks for agreeing to come on my show. I apologize if we're interrupting your routine and plans by getting here so early. We were just so excited that we were all up and at work early with nothing to do. Ms. Potts was kind enough to clear us through early."

"Well then, welcome! I'm sure Pepper has already given you a bit of a run-down of everything you should see today in the Tower. We'll be starting with some training today, and apparently everyone is angry at me for getting shot yesterday, so that'll be the focus of today."

"We're not angry at you, Steph. We just think you could have avoided it, so we want to make sure you get that down until you know it like the back of your hand," I reasoned.

"Alright, we'll let you get to it." Jackie said with a smile, "We'll mostly be filming what you're doing, though I may take advantage of any breaks you take to fit in some questions in context."

For the most part over the next two hours, I was able to block Jackie and her cameras out in favor of working on Steph's training, or sparring with Bucky and Thor when Steph was occupied with Sif or someone else. Tony and Bruce had begged off pretty quickly in favor of working on Steph's uniform material and various other projects, but the rest of us were happily buried in training for the day. When we got to the shooting at Steph part of the day, Steph managed to protect herself from every single rubber bullet. I was glad that we had Clint and Bucky there to do the shooting, as well as Natasha when they wanted another gun in play because I wouldn't have been able to do it.

Still, as good a job as Steph was doing, and she really was, I had one additional major concern about the issue that needed to be addressed. Actual battle wasn't a situation where you were prepared and ready for the shots that were coming at you. Steph had said she didn't use her powers that night on the motorcycle on purpose, but I wanted to be sure that was the whole reason. Glancing over at Natasha, I saw that she was thinking the same thing. Steph was good when she was giving it her full attention, but she'd been distracted last night.

"Alright," I said stepping forward and stripping my shirt off, "I think that's enough shooting for now. Let's spar some more, Steph."

Steph just shrugged and climbed back onto the sparring mats. About five minutes in, I managed to get the drop on her enough to have her wrapped up in a kind of bear hug and suspended in the air so she couldn't touch her feet to the ground. Making sure my voice was low enough that the cameras couldn't pick it up, I whispered in her ear, "I've got you now, what're you going to do about it."

Taking advantage of Steph's momentary distraction, Natasha fired on us. When Steph successfully zapped the rapid succession of bullets I smiled and tossed her up in the air in a spin so she was facing me when I caught her. I gave her a quick kiss and congratulated her on the job well done, laughing when she muttered about sneaky tactician boyfriends and spies.

When I set her back down, I looked over to Sif and asked what she wanted to work on with the remaining half hour of Steph's time. With an absolutely wicked grin, she said, "Lady Stephanie, I believe you have earned the choice of what you'd like to do."

I groaned, but I knew Sif would be careful not to hurt Steph. Still, the idea of Steph with a sword was a little terrifying. As long as she didn't get decapitated, she'd be able to heal herself quickly from most sword-inflicted wounds. Curiously I watched as Sif walked over to her shield and sword that were resting on a nearby table. She unsheathed the sword and examined it momentarily. Them she did something with her hand and a second sword shot out of the hilt, making it a double-bladed sword. Detaching the blades from each other, she handed one to Steph who looked adorably terrified.

"Shouldn't we start with like a plastic one or something? I really don't think giving me a sharp sword is the worlds best idea."

"Nonsense, how are you to learn how it feels to wield a sword without feeling and using its weight?"

"I want to shoot Hawkeye," Steph said causing me to start chuckling.

"What?!" Clint gasped indignantly.

"You were having way too much fun shooting me, so I want to shoot you."

"But. But. I don't have anything that will stop the bullets."

"You have Kevlar, don't you?"

Clint was standing there, mouth opening and closing indignantly while everyone else looked on, without saying anything. Truth be told, Clint had been alarmingly enthusiastic about getting to shoot at Steph.

"Come on, Clint. They're rubber bullets. They won't kill you, is Hawkeye afraid of getting a bruise?" Now she was just throwing his own taunts from the beginning of the training session back at him. I was pretty sure I knew how this was going to play out, so I let her keep going. No one made a move to stop her as she walked over to Natasha and grabbed her gun, double checking that the bullets were rubber, then turned and shot at the ground by Clint's feet. When Clint flinched Steph just said, "see, rather uncomfortable isn't it. Maybe next time you won't be such and ass when I'm nervous about you shooting at me, rubber bullets!"

Yep, she was definitely hell on wheels in the best way possible, and I loved it. She would definitely keep my non-mission life interesting, and probably the missions as well, come to think of it.

Satisfied that she'd made her point, I watched as Steph's gaze flitted around the room. She focused in on what I noticed earlier. Jackie was openly staring at Woody, and Woody kept trying to casually glance at her out of the side of his gaze. I hadn't said anything because I didn't know whether or not Woody was single. When Steph's eyes lit up in a way that I'd seen Natasha's do before each of her set-up attempts, well, that answered that question.

"Jackie," Steph started smoothly, "I just realized we didn't introduce you to the newcomers. As you know, I had a little bit of an incident yesterday. When I used to be a bounty hunter, I worked closely with a company called Rangeman. The owner, Ranger, decided to send out a couple of guards to keep an eye on me for the time being, until we catch whoever was shooting at Steve and I. These are two of my closest friends, and they'll be taking guard shift for the time being, staying at the Tower and following me around when we leave the building. Seems kind of silly, but it makes everyone more comfortable to have a set of eyes on me, so I'm letting it go. This is Hal and Woody; guys this is Jackie."

"Pleasure, Jackie," Woody said, while shaking her hand and holding on just a little extra long. Hal just nodded and grumbled something seemingly polite.

Steph's smile widened a little as she said, "how about we spend the last half hour of training on the gun range. I haven't worked there in a couple of days, so I'm past due. And, I wouldn't want it to be too boring for you, so Woody, why don't you go ahead and teach Jackie the basics?"

I slid my arm around Steph's waist as we walked off to the elevator. Leaning down, I whispered in her ear, "smooth. I wouldn't know you were up to anything if I hadn't already heard all about how much you hate going to the gun range."

"They told you that, did they?"

"Yep. And I know you haven't been on the range since you woke up, so you definitely are well over-due. If it makes you feel better, your eyesight is better, and your muscle memory will probably be as well. So, you'll probably get become a much better shot very quickly these days." She grumbled something about hating guns, so I pressed a kiss to the top of her head as we exited on the basement shooting range level. "Try really hard for half an hour and you can have some bonus points too."

"Well then, how can I say no to bonus points?" Steph said with a smile as she sauntered over to one of the shooting lanes. Clint was standing off to the side, so he gestured to Steph asking if he was working with her or if I wanted to. I was a decent shot, but Steph was better, so I gestured for him to work with her, and settled in against the wall to watch.

Sam leaned up against the wall next to me and asked, "she makes you happy, doesn't she? Buddy you're in deep."

"She does, and I am," I replied, winking at Steph when she looked over her shoulder at me, clearly having heard me as she didn't have ear protection on yet.

Fifteen minutes in, Steph was already doing much better with her primary weapons, so Clint tapped on her shoulder to get her to stop then handed her his piece and made her work with that for the remainder of the lesson. When we settled back into the elevator she looked up at me and asked, "why'd he switch guns on me?"

"You're doing well with yours, and realistically it would be best that you be able to use any weapon that will be out in the field with us- with the exceptions of the Iron Man suit, Bucky's arm, Sam's flight suit, and Clint's bow. Well, and mjolnir, as well, but none of us can lift that anyway."

"And your shield." I just shrugged because yes, I'd prefer to have my shield in battle, but there was a chance she'd need to wield it, particularly if something had me down. Or yesterday, for instance, I would have preferred that she felt comfortable grabbing my shield and putting it between us and the bullets. I understood that she hadn't even thought of it, but that was something we'd need to work on. Still, with the way she'd freaked out before putting on her first uniform, I didn't quite think she was ready for that, so I kept my mouth shut.

When the elevator doors opened, it appeared that the common floor had been transformed into some sort of salon-boutique store hybrid.

"I can't decide whether to be excited or terrified right now," Steph said, eyes wide. We walked up the stairs to our floor, her neck craning to keep the setup in sight for as long as possible.

I just chuckled and said, "you can be excited, just go get cleaned up first!" With a kiss, I gently shoved her in the direction of her room before going to mine to clean up and get dressed.


	22. The Show

_**Steve's POV** _

When I walked back downstairs, I was dressed in black slacks and a dark blue button down shirt, ready for whatever this late afternoon event would bring. Jackie and her film crew had left to go to the studio and prepare themselves, and I didn't see any of my teammates downstairs yet. I sat down at the end of one of the couches and surveyed the flurry of activity that was going on around me.

"JARVIS?"

"Yes, Captain Rogers?" I looked around at all the extra people who were preparing to help the ladies get ready and realized he wasn't going to call me "Steve" right now even if I asked. "Has lunch been ordered yet?"

"Not yet, Captain."

"Can we order up some things that will be easy for people to pick at over the next couple hours? Kind of like appetizers? Small sandwiches, vegetables, cheese, crackers, that kind of thing. Nothing messy. And in, you know, typical quantities because we did just have a long training session."

"Very good, Captain."

"Thanks, JARVIS."

"Anything else?"

"Can you put on the news, muted with closed captioning, and maybe some music?"

"Of course, what kind of music would you like?"

I paused a moment in thought, and Steph spoke from the stairs on her way into the fray, "how caught up are you, Steve?"

"Eh, so-so. There is A LOT of music over the course of 70 years."

"Let's go with Billboard Top 100 songs for each year between the 1930s and today. Just mix them all up together."

"Of course, Ms. Plum." Steph sighed before settling down on the couch next to me wearing just pajama shorts and a tank top. I put my arm over her shoulder, and she twisted around so she was leaning her head on my shoulder and chest and had her legs running along the length of the couch.

"Aren't you going to…?" I trailed off gesturing at everything set up around the massive open room.

With a shrug, Steph just said, "I figured I"d relax for a minute before the craziness started." She craned her neck to tilt her head up and accept a quick kiss, both of us aware we were in the presence of people we didn't know- even if they would have had a thorough background check. "It'll be more fun when the others get here as well."

We sat there together in silence for a couple more minutes before Hurricane Pepper whirled in and swooped Steph away from me with Natasha arriving within seconds. Apparently Pepper and Darcy had decided that we'd all be going out after the taping, so all of the women needed to get ready- not just Steph and Natasha. In the long run, though it made things more chaotic to the outside observer, I think it calmed Steph down. It made her feel like it was a regular girls night out, rather than an impending media circus.

The men slowly trickled in and settled on the couches and chairs around me watching the women's antics more than the news on the TV with moderately bemused expressions. I had given up on the news completely, as this was the first time I'd seen this kind of process underway. This was way more intense than anything the women on the bonds tour had ever had time for way back then.

"I don't get it, Buck," I whispered, "she was already gorgeous. What could possibly take this much time and this many people?"

"Dunno, but if it makes them happy, what does it matter?"

He had a point, so I let it go and continued watching with fascination. As things seemed they were about to wind down, Steph's nerves seemed to start escalating again. Reaching in to the pail of beers Sam had set up, I grabbed one and pulled the top off, then picked mine back up and started walking over to Steph.

Steph raised her eyebrows from where she was watching me in the mirror and asked, "was that even a twist top?" I looked down at the bottle, unsure, and she just laughed. She stood as I approached and took her drink before grabbing my hand and pulling me over to the racks of clothing that had grown in number since I'd come downstairs. We stopped together in front of a rack of clothes that were predominantly in the colors of Steph's uniform.

"Sometimes I hate being a girl," she mumbled.

"Well, I'm glad you are one," I reasoned. When her lips only quirked in a small smile, I nudged her with my elbow, "I thought you liked clothes and shoes."

"I do, and for anything else, I'd be so excited right now, but I kind of want to throw up all over the place just thinking about figuring out which of these outfits will work for tonight."

"I really think you're taking this a little more seriously than you need to. Just pick something you like, that will ensure you'll be comfortable in your own skin, and will make you happy. Nobody is going to care what you wear."

This time Steph snorted in laughter before her voice turned up in both volume and pitch, "Yeah right nobody is going to care what I wear. I pick something too dowdy, and everyone writes about how I'm faking being a sweet girl just to steal Captain America's heart. I wear something too loose, and everyone starts saying I'm pregnant with our love child and that's why you're introducing me to the world, otherwise you'd be hiding me. I choose something too risqué, and people will be saying I fucked my way onto the team."

I growled at that, "If anyone says that, they die."

Natasha barked out a laugh from way closer behind me than expected, and by Steph's jump, I don't think she even knew Natasha was within 20 feet of her, let alone two. "That's impractical Steve, Steph's right. It'll get said. Actually Steph, it'll probably get said no matter what you pick, so just pick something you enjoy. I say make them eat their hearts out."

"Then again," Clint added dryly, "that is pretty much Nat's motto in life right there."

"No, she's right," said Darcy and Pepper was nodding along with her. "Dress in something you like, that makes you confident, and that fits how you generally would dress when going out. This is a nighttime show in cable TV, so that's the standard dress code. Otherwise you'll get type cast into some style that doesn't fit and it will be an even bigger deal later when you change it up."

Taking all that in, Steph squared her shoulders and started flicking through outfits, some she pulled to the side, and stacked up together for a second look.

"Steph," interrupted Pepper, "make sure you save the things you don't want to wear tonight but would like to keep for another time. You'll be putting in a lot of public appearances of various types and formality."

With a nod of acknowledgment and a murmured thanks, Steph started at the beginning again, this time leaving very few items behind. After a lot of deliberation and some input on my part, she settled on a short, but not too short, strapless dress with a generous dip in the neckline. The majority was in the medium blue of her uniform, with a navy chevron accenting under her bust which was dotted with shiny silver gems. She put on some matching heels and pulled a short black leather jacket over it.

I dragged Steph off to the side, waving away the calls to not mess up her hair or makeup and focused on her, willing her to believe what I was about to say.

"Steph, you look gorgeous, and more important than that, you're an amazing person. The world is going to see that, so you have nothing to worry about. And no matter how everything plays out, I'm going to be right there with you. Try to just enjoy this- it'll be like nothing else you've ever done. Plus, once it's over, we'll have that third date out dancing that we didn't get around to, okay?"

She brushed her lips ever so lightly against mine, then checked to make sure none of her lipstick had rubbed off before replying, "Thanks. And hey, I kind of liked the way our third date went; I think we should still count it."

"Okay, so we'll have our fourth date then."

"Can we finish it off with a repeat of date number three?"

I feigned reluctance and said, "well, if you insist." When she smiled in response, I pressed a quick kiss to her forehead then put a hand on the small of her back and guided her back to where our teammates were waiting.

When we arrived at the studio, I was very glad that we'd done such an extensive pre-interview the night before and more this morning. And that Pepper had arranged for hair and makeup at the Tower. It meant that from the time we set foot in the building, we didn't have to wait more than 15 minutes for everything to start going. My hand was also grateful because Steph had it in a death grip, and she wasn't letting up.

_**Steph's POV** _

I was a giant pile of nerves, and I had been squeezing Steve's hand so hard that I probably should have worried about breaking it. But at least if I did, it would be healed pretty much right away. As she had told us she would, Jackie brought out the original Avengers first, telling the audience that she'd brought on some world-saving guests for the night. Steve gave my hand a little squeeze before shaking his free and walking out with the others and waving politely at the crowd. Tony was of course in the lead, making a big show of tossing a bunch of roses out into the crowd, before presenting a white one to each Jackie and Natasha with outrageous flourish.

"Jesus, they're good at that. And the crowd loves them," I whispered to Sam and Bucky who I noticed were looking a little green in the gills as well. They nodded in agreement and I whispered, "what happens if we all three just run away before she calls us out there?"

"I don't think you'd make it out the door, Steph," Bucky said jamming his thumb in that direction and I saw Pepper, Darcy, Maria and Sif standing there with their arms crossed across their chests. Jane was there too, but she didn't look so much intimidating as just reassuring, and Hal and Woody were somewhere, faded into the shadows.

I heaved a sigh and said, "Come on, if you took Sif and Sam took Maria, I could probably get past Pepper and Darcy."

Sam chuckled and said, "no way, I'm out. I'm not getting on her bad side just so you don't have to do an interview. See, Steve's nice. He'd forgive you in an instant. Maria would hold a grudge."

"So would Darcy, Steph. This is definitely the lesser of two evils," Bucky chimed in.

Geeze, figures no one had my back when not making a fool of myself was on the line!

On stage, Jackie was had been talking about Captain America's friend being rescued after DECADES of being a POW, and Bucky gave me a kiss on the top of my head and said, "of course we've got your back, but you'll be fine. Nothing to worry about."

Sam and I stood next to each other, watching Bucky walk out. From the outside, he looked cool and confident, but there was enough of a hesitation in his step that I could tell he wasn't quite sure what to do with the warm reception he was receiving. "It's good for him," I murmured, "to see people not afraid of him and accepting him."

"It is," Sam agreed.

Then Jackie started talking about the man who helped Captain America foil a dangerous enemy infiltration in SHIELD and lay the groundwork for bringing Bucky back, and Sam patted me on the shoulder before making his way out. I watched him and the nerves started hitting me even more, I took a small step backwards away from the stage and bumped into someone. Twisting my head, I saw the rest of the ladies of the tower behind me forming a wall of comfort and strength off of which I could draw. None of them said anything to me, just offered their silent support until it was time for me to walk out.

Truthfully, I wasn't hearing anything that was being said on the stage at that point- everything was just a dull buzz that filled my head. When I felt Steve's gaze find mine and someone give me a small push forward, I took a deep breath and took the first step. I felt my eyes widen when I looked at the audience on the other side of the stage, and quickly turned my eyes back to Steve. Tony sashayed out, there was really nothing else you could call it, in front of Steve to give me the remaining white rose he had with a bow.

I playfully shoved Tony away and made my way over to the empty spot next to Steve. Steve stood to greet me, and completely surprised me by pressing a quick kiss to my lips. When he pulled back, he playfully whispered, "this is Steph. Steph is mine," to me while giving me a wink. I managed to contain my laugh to just a smile as we settled down on the couches and I carefully crossed my legs.

"My, my, my," Jackie started, "I'm honestly not sure which question to ask first after that display."

I blushed a little and pasted on a look of innocence as though I didn't know what she was talking about.

"Nice try," she said, "but we'll start with how did you get involved with this lot, Steph? We know everyone else's stories, but you just kind of appeared as if from nowhere."

"Well, not from nowhere. I appeared from Trenton, New Jersey, actually." I replied.

"I get all the credit for this one," Tony cut in. "After SHIELD fell, I wanted to put the team back together, just in case, but didn't know how to contact everyone. I tried searching for them, but couldn't find any of them who weren't already at the Tower. Stephanie was a professional at hunting people down and was highly recommended, so I hired her to do so."

"And what does that mean, 'professional at hunting people down'?" Jackie asked.

I cleared my throat before saying, "I was a Bond Enforcement Agent, or as some like to call it, a Bounty Hunter. Basically I was paid to track down people who skipped out on bail and bring them back to jail."

"Were you good at it?"

I tapped my chin thoughtfully and replied, "I was good at making connections and finding people, but my takedown techniques left a little bit to be desired." I could swear I heard Woody chuckle somewhere backstage. "Thankfully, Tony hired me to find but not forcefully bring in anyone here." The audience laughed at that.

"Okay, so who all here did you find?"

Steve, Sam, Bucky, Clint, and Natasha all raised their hands. I pointed at Sam and said, "too easy to count." Then I pointed at Bucky and Steve and said, "not really."

Everyone started protesting my classifications until Jackie cut in and said, "sounds like you're being overly modest, but even if that was true, that would still mean you found Hawkeye and Black Widow."

I'll admit, my face was probably a little smug given Natasha's snort of laughter when I said, "yes, I did. Though finding Clint then required him to save my life, and Natasha probably took pity on me by revealing herself when I found her hiding spot."

"It wasn't pity," Natasha said lazily, "I was curious who this woman was who found me."

"And you could have taken care of me in about a second flat if I'd been a problem."

"Obviously. Although you would be much more difficult to kill now."

There was kind of a nervous chuckle that emanated from the crowd at that, so I gave them a reassuring and playful look. Jackie took that opportunity to throw to the video they'd cut of this morning's training and other shenanigans, and we all visibly relaxed into the couches as it played.

"See, you're doing fine." Steve said in my ear, and I nodded in response.

"I'm still terrified," I whispered back.

"You'll get used to it. At least no one is singing a propaganda song and dancing around us."

"And they're not making you lift a motorcycle with a bunch of showgirls on it over your head."

"That was actually kind of fun."

"I bet it was, you dirty old man!" I heard Bucky's strangled cough and looked up to see his eyes twinkling.

"Hey, I was being nice to you."

I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and said, "thanks. And thanks for letting me distract myself during this break."

Bruce cleared his throat and pointed to where the show producer was counting back down to the end of the video when we'd be back on camera. I sighed before straightening up again and turning my attention back to the monitor just in time to watch the clip end with a shot of Steve and I kissing. There were some catcalls from the audience, and I knew I was blushing furiously. Steve, on the other hand, managed to somehow look both sheepish and proud at the same time.

"So, Captain," Jackie playfully prodded, "is it safe to say that you and Stephanie are more than just teammates?"

"I suppose you could say that. Or you could say that we're teammates both professionally, through the Avengers, and personally."

There were some "aww"s throughout the audience, and the little skipped beat of my heart agreed with the sentiment.

"So, Steph, I think I have to ask, what's it like being with Captain America?"

"I guess the way I see it, I'm not dating Captain America, I'm dating Steve Rogers. And he's really just a normal guy. An absolutely great one, who believes in things like chivalry, but I mean, he's a person, just like you and me."

Steve stilled next to me as Jackie continued, "And what's it like  _being with_  Captain America."

I couldn't help it, I snorted before I said, "Jackie, you have to know I'm not going to give you that kind of personal or intimate details."

And just like that, she thankfully backed off, and said, "alright, I'll let it go. For now. So we have pretty much all seen this clip on the news from last night," she paused as the screen quickly showed Steve and I racing through Trenton on his bike when I flung a hand out and a mini-bolt of lightning shot out in front of the baby in the stroller and the woman who was presumably his mother. "It took one of our associate producers several hours to find a higher resolution copy of that to see exactly what was going on."

Two still photos showed up on the screen. The first showed my hand and the fact that the bolt of lightning was clearly coming out of it. The second was a zoomed in image that clearly showed a bullet just about to be hit by the lightning. We all studied it pensively.

"Kudos to your producer, that's a nice picture," Sam said.

"Better than any I'd seen yet," agreed Bruce.

"Right, so, long story short. I had an accident in a lab, and I both grew taller and gained the ability to do that."

"Well, that's interesting. What's that like?"

"Well the accident itself hurt like you wouldn't believe, and other than that, I mean, it's a lot of things. It's kind of neat, but it is also quite a bit scary to have something like this going on and not know what it is. Or how to control it. Or how far it goes. Thankfully this group and some additional friends have been helping me safely figure out the answers to those questions."

Seemingly satisfied with her answers from me, Jackie spent the next several minutes talking to my teammates, and I felt myself relax ever so slightly more. Steve even managed to fit in a little plug for a children's charity he and the rest of the Avengers worked with when they could find the time. As if I needed any more proof that this guy was perfect, he had to go and be good with kids.

I still didn't even know if I wanted kids, but even just the completely made up mental image of him holding a baby or talking to a small child made my ovaries want to sing and dance. Yeesh. I would definitely need to be careful about that, but if ever there was a man who was going to change my mind about wanting kids, I had a sneaking suspicion that man would be Steve. That was, of course, if one could Avenge and have kids at the same time. Admittedly that would be tricky, but where there's a will, there's a way, so I was sure we'd be able to figure out a way down the road. Wait a minute. Now I was thinking like it was a given. I hadn't even been with this guy for that long. What was wrong with me? Geeze, talk about a bad time for a sudden case of hormones or biological clock ticking. At least it seemed that I'd been able to keep all those thoughts in my head. National TV would have been a terrible place for those to spill out.

I startled out of my thoughts when I an assistant settled a shot glass in front of me. Surreptitiously glancing over at the camera, I verified that yes, we were still on air.

"Welcome back," Steve playfully whispered directly in my ear so quietly I was sure no one else, or even the mic, could hear him. "She's got some kind of game we have to play." Then, loud enough to be heard by all, Steve said "I'm not sure this is such a good idea."

"Oh, relax, Cap! It's not like you can even get drunk, and I'm sure everyone watching knows that they should drink responsibly and according to the laws of wherever they live." Tony said, with the last bit in a rather good imitation of what I thought of as Steve's Captain-America-Knows-Best voice.

I snorted out a laugh and Steve rolled his eyes at me. I just shrugged in response and noticed that it was Thor, Steve, Bucky, Natasha and I with shot glasses in front of us. Jackie, Bruce, Clint, Tony, and Sam had beer. I raised an eyebrow at Natasha and she just smiled at me, then the camera, and said, "Some parts of being Russian never quite leave you."

"Alright, this game is simple enough! When it is your turn you say 'never have I ever…' and then list something. Anyone who has done that thing drinks. If you're the only one who drinks, or it is particularly surprising, you have to explain yourself. If no one has done the thing you say, you have to drink. That's about it. I'll start." Jackie smiled at the audience, waiting until they had finished cheering loudly to say, "Never have I ever… had someone or something shoot at me."

Of course, that resulted in everyone but Jackie taking a drink and the assistant scurrying back out to refill the shot glasses. We appeared to be going down the line, so Thor said next, "Never have I ever… fought valiantly in war with my fellow warriors to protect the innocent."

This time everyone but Jackie and I drank, and I just laughed and said, "Thor, usually you choose something you think others have done, but you haven't done. The goal of the game is NOT to drink."

"But then how would I get to enjoy this fine Midgardian beverage?" he asked, holding up his shot glass, "After all, it appears the portions are tiny."

Steve just hung his head and shook it while I and everyone else just laughed.

Turning our attention back to Natasha, I watched as she contemplated something while eyeing me. I was sure the predatory grin on her face had terrified entire armies before as she nodded and said, "Never have I ever… gone streaking."

I took my shot and immediately realized that I was the only one doing so, and everyone was now staring at me expectantly. The audience was loudly laughing and cheering and I looked at my teammates and said, "Really?" Because, honestly, I was surprised I was the only one drinking. Especially when Tony was at the table. Probably he'd just been so drunk when he streaked that he didn't remember it. Then again, he'd gone to college so young, and the partying and drinking probably didn't start until after then, so… I guess he probably never had the standard dorm experience. Noticing that everyone was still staring at me expectantly, I blushed and threw my hands up in the classic "what" gesture and said, "What can I say other than… 'sometimes we do dumb things in college'?"

Next it was Bruce's turn, and he chose, "Never have I ever… kissed someone as part of a cover or job." To which Clint, Natasha, Steve, Bucky and I all drank. Interesting, I was definitely going to have to get that story out of Steve sometime.

When it became Tony's turn, he looked at Natasha and Clint before saying, "Never have I ever… stolen a car for any length of time for any reason- even to accomplish a mission. And even if you ended up giving it back." I could see why he would assume they had, but he looked surprised when Steve, Bucky, and I drank as well.

Jackie interrupted and said, "alright, I just gotta ask because, really, Captain America?"

Steve just shrugged his shoulders as Bucky said, "Nazi Germany."

There was a look in Steve and Natasha's eyes that made me think maybe there was a more recent time that they didn't want to talk about, so when I noticed Tony looking at me with a raised brow, I added, "If one… moves… someone who jumped bail's car, and makes sure said person knows one has moved it, then one has set a very effective trap." And that was the truth, Morelli had come for his car. I just hadn't managed to catch him when he did, and someone blew up the car before I could return it.

It was definitely a little bit of a tension in me over the fact that I'd just admitted to a felony, though not explicitly or in such a way that anyone would likely investigate, but I was still grateful when Sam quickly spoke up, "Never have I ever… saved someone sitting at this table's life. In a direct way- not an 'I saved the world so I saved everyone here' way."

Steve took a drink, as did Bucky, Bruce, Clint, and Natasha. Looking over Clint said, "you gotta drink Steph, you saved my life!"

"No I didn't!"

Clint and Natasha exchanged a look before Natasha adamantly said, "obviously we can't go into the details right now, but you definitely did."

I gave in and took the drink, noticing that where I should have been wasted, I only felt a slight warm tingling in my fingers and toes.

Bucky looked at me wickedly and said, "Never have I ever… had my personal car blown up by a rocket launcher."

I sighed and shook my head before taking my shot. The audience and Jackie gasped, and I just shrugged and said, "I mean, that's most of the story. They weren't aiming at me though, they were aiming at the car next to mine. It was really more of a wrong place wrong time thing."

"With rocket launchers," said Jackie.

Sighing again I said, "yeah, I hate it when that happens. It's such a drag."

There was laughter again and Jackie just shook her head incredulously. Steve was grinning and had that same wicked gleam in his eyes that Bucky had. It was enough to make you think they actually  _were_  brothers. I fixed him with The Look, but he still said, "Never have I ever… had my apartment fire bombed."

This time there weren't even gasps, you could have heard a pin drop in the stunned silence as I took my shot, alone again.

"There isn't much more to that story, or stories, as it actually happened more than once," I said. Then I glared at Bucky and Steve and said, "Never have I ever… called someone 'Doll'," watching with some small amount of satisfaction as they both shrugged and took their last shots.

"That was well targeted, Steph," Jackie said with a laugh. She turned fully to the camera and said, "Hope you all enjoyed yourself; I'll see you again real soon! I want to give one last thanks the Avengers, old and new, for their time coming on the show today."

Steve helped me to my feet and kept an arm around my waist as we all waved to the audience as the cameras made one last run down the line before the producer yelled that we were all clear. Sif, Pepper, Maria, Jane, and Darcy all came out onto the stage and we stood under the lights for a few minutes chatting with Jackie about how the show had gone, what to expect in the final cut, and other such details. The audience was slowly filing out, and the sound crew were running around unhooking mics from all of us. Mine had needed to be taped onto my back inside my dress for lack of a better location, so when an overeager assistant attempted to retrieve it, Steve stopped him with quite the commanding "Son, just don't." The poor kid whimpered and Steve just slipped my zipper down enough that he could reach in and gently grab the battery pack out himself before quickly zipping it back up.

I snorted out a laugh and said to Darcy, "I think I'm going to have to get 'Property of Captain America' stamped across my forehead."

"Come on, Steph," laughed Tony and with a wiggle of his eyebrows he said, "I'm sure you can think of somewhere much more interesting to put a tattoo like that."

"Yeah, but I was thinking an early warning system. If I put it anywhere good, Steve will have killed them before they got close to seeing it."

Steve just pulled me into him with my back to his front possessively. Looking around I saw that we appeared to be all done, and would probably be heading out. I looked over at Woody blending into the shadows but closer now than he could be while we were on screen, and I said to Jackie, "we're going to be heading out to dinner then a club. Want to join us?"

"I'd love to, but I need to stick around here for a couple more hours to help them finish up the episode and get it on air tonight in time. If you tell me where you're going after dinner, I'd love to meet you there," she said. Looking at everyone else, she clarified, "anything that anyone says or does will of course be 100% off the record. I promise."

Everyone smiled in appreciation at the fact that she hadn't made us ask her for that guarantee, and Pepper quickly gave her the information before we all said "see you later," thanked her crew, and left the studio once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience as this went up a day late, but hey, it is extra long, so I hope you enjoyed that! :) I am so glad this week is over!


	23. Assemble

_**Natasha's POV** _

All things considered, I thought the newcomers had done a good job handling that TV interview. Steph had looked more than a little terrified several times, which wasn't something we really wanted the world to see, and Sam's speech had been strained when all attention had been focused on him. Bucky was Bucky. He'd been trained as a spy and was able to portray his chosen personas as he'd wanted whenever he chose. I had no doubt that'd we'd be able to smooth out the rough edges, and that most of it was nerves which would likely fade with experience.

I wasn't too thrilled with the drinking game that had occurred. In fact, the reason I'd chosen to drink the vodka with the supers was to hopefully draw attention away from the fact that Steph was drinking as much as she was without becoming noticeably drunk. She'd admitted to getting taller, but not to becoming super or getting a metabolism to match Steve's famous one. It was a carefully crafted plan to try to hide that for as long as possible to try to keep Hydra from realizing they had another target now with Super Serum. From the chatter I'd heard so far, they were wary of approaching Bucky. Maybe even scared of him. They'd treated him badly and they feared his wrath the most.

We knew they'd love to get their hands on Steve to study, but I had a feeling that once they figured out that the serums they'd injected Steph with had worked, they would be most eager to have her to study. They presumably knew what they'd used, so being able to study the results would be their ideal situation. I'd hoped we had more time before they figured that out, but between the video with the lightning and her drinking display on the show, I feared we'd run out of it.

At the same time, however, it had been fun, and had done a good job endearing Steph to the audience. I felt it would do the same to the greater public once the episode aired. Steph clearly knew how to have a good time, was humble, and could handle bantering while giving back as good as she got. She came across as trustworthy, but not in the terrifying and potentially judgmental way Steve was often viewed. Not that Steve was at all judgmental, but that was how the public saw him. If anything I actually thought Steph could help soften Steve's public image without tarnishing it, which is why I'd taken the gamble on my streaking question. I knew Steph had gone to college and suspected that she'd enjoyed herself quite well during that time, If I'd been wrong and she'd never streaked, I would have had to drink, which didn't bother me. But, since I was right, the audience got to see Steph's slight "imperfection" as well as Steve's instant and honest acceptance of it. He hadn't seemed bothered at all. Surprised, but not upset in any way.

Still, I was relieved that we had some lead time on the interview airing. We were able to go to the restaurant and enjoy a boisterous, leisurely meal without the public being anywhere near as crazy as the paparazzi. Once both groups started acting up, life was going to get extra crazy for a few weeks. Time to discuss security gaps among the team and Stark Industries security guards. In particular, I was curious to pick Barnes's brain about those, as he had, without a doubt, discovered a few on his way into the Tower the first time.

_**Steve's POV** _

Stephanie, Bucky, and Sam had all done really well with their first interview, especially Steph who'd been under the microscope the most out of all of us. And I was glad to see that she was relaxing and having fun out with the team while we were at dinner and now at the club. I didn't regret  _not_  making it out dancing the other night when we had our third date, but I was very much enjoying it now. I honestly hadn't been sure of how I'd feel about it- I'd never been out dancing with someone that mattered since that fateful day I made my dancing date with Peggy that I ended up missing.

Still, dancing in a club in modern times was way different than dancing with Peggy back then would have been. It was a fact I was sure was helping me feel even more comfortable with the situation. Just as the fact that I was already so in love with the woman in my arms did. We'd been dancing and laughing with our friends for a good three hours before I noticed a change in the crowd around us.

It seemed word had gotten out, and my hands tightened on Steph's waist as the crowds started pushing in. I noticed Happy and the Stark Industries security surrounding the group and herding us together and I was grateful that Stark had brought us to the Tower's club. Sure, we could have gotten out of almost any situation that happened anywhere, but it was better if we weren't the ones seen confronting fans in a slightly hostile nature. And that was the primary benefit of being on our home turf.

We crowded onto our private, over-sized elevator and I felt Steph sigh as she leaned her back into my front. She looked blissfully over at Tony and said, "thanks. After the last couple days, I  _really_  just wanted to have fun."

I noticed an absolutely gleeful look cross a very tipsy Darcy's face as she half sang out, " _I come home in the morning light_ …" she trailed off looking mischievously around.

Steph laughed, but caught the slightly puzzled look on Bucky's face. She smiled at him and made a face like she was giving him a hint as she sang, " _My mother says when you gonna live your life right?_ " When she turned and saw the same clueless look on my face, she declared, "absolutely not. That is unacceptable. I mean, I know you're not a girl but still. And oh my goodness, Sif! You probably have no clue either and you are a girl, so, again, UNACCEPTABLE!"

She stepped away from me to loop her arm around Darcy's waist and they started swaying and bobbing together singing, " _Oh mother dear we're not the fortunate ones_

_And girls they want to have fun_

_Oh girls just want to have fun_ "

Honestly, I'd never heard this song before, and there was no music going, so I was impressed by how well they were singing in time with each other. They must have known the song by heart, which, granted made total sense given the message and both their personalities. And I managed to be surprised yet again as we arrived on the communal floor and, as we stepped off the elevator, it was Maria Hill of all people who picked up the song.

" _The phone rings in the middle of the night._ "

She looked over to Pepper who added, " _My father yells what you gonna do with your life._ "

Jane piped in, " _Oh daddy dear you know you're still number one."_

My jaw dropped when Jane pointed at Natasha who sang out, " _But girls they want to have fun_

 _Oh girls just want to have_ "

JARVIS picked that moment to add in the background music and the entire group of women (minus Sif and Jackie who stayed out of the way off to the side) started bouncing around and dancing, vamping playfully for the next couple minutes,

" _That's all they really want_

_Some fun_

_When the working day is done_

_Girls - they want to have fun_

_Oh girls just want to have fun_ "

Despite not knowing really the song or what was going on, I played along and danced with Steph when she abandoned the group to dance with me and sing at me,

" _Some boys take a beautiful girl_

_And hide her away from the rest of the world_

_I want to be the one to walk in the sun_

_Oh girls they want to have fun_

_Oh girls just want to have_

_That's all they really want_

_Some fun_

_When the working day is done_

_Girls - they want to have fun_

_Oh girls just want to have fun,_

_They want to have fun,_

_They want to have fun…_ "

Those of us who were observing all clapped wildly when the women were finished their impromptu performance, and I pulled Steph in for a kiss and whispered to her, "I promise, I want to show you off not hide you from the world, okay?"

Once things had quieted around, Jackie cleared her throat and said, "okay, I know I said everything was off the record. And it is. But that was so perfect I don't even know how to describe it. I will pay ANYTHING, owe you WHATEVER favors, generally give you WHATEVER YOU WANT, if you give me a video of that."

The women all looked down at themselves, obviously assessing their appearance, then glanced around at each other before slowly nodding their assent.

"Any other obvious lessons in feminism in pop culture I'm missing?" I asked.

"Well," Steph said slowly, "given that was new to you, I'm going to guess that yes, there are at least a few blanks. Don't worry, we'll compile a list for you."

Without too much more conversation, we managed to separate ourselves from the group and drag ourselves upstairs. Knowing we were both pretty ripe from the club, I pulled Steph into my room and directly into the generous shower where we proceeded to clean each other off then allow our hands to wander until I had her pressed against the shower wall and we frantically making love with each other.

Being with a woman for whom I had such deep feelings, combined with the fact that she also had super serum, continued to just take me to a different level sexually than I had ever been before. Not to mention that her stamina pretty equally matched mine. Generally that was a good thing, but it seemed less so when my Avengers alarm went off. It was not as unfortunately timed as it could have been, but we hadn't yet been to sleep. Reluctantly pulling away from Steph, I pulled on some boxers as she grabbed a shirt from one of my drawers and pulled it on. Glancing outside, I noticed that the sun was rising, so it was later than I think either of us had realized.

Making sure all Steph's important parts were covered, I pulled her into my side as I answered the call on video. To his credit, Coulson didn't hesitate, pause, or in any way make it awkward, when he noticed Steph standing next to me.

"Good morning, Phil." I held back a smirk at Phil's reaction because he somehow hadn't yet managed to stop looking like a small child who had won an unexpected prize every time I spoke to him, "what can we help you with?"

"You know how I'm working with a small group to try to rebuild SHIELD?"

Steph didn't say anything although I knew this was news to her, so I just calmly said, "yes."

"Well, as far as I know, my group is the only one that can make that claim. For HYDRA, however, there are a few groups trying to bring the organization back. One has popped up in your backyard and I thought you might like first rights of refusal on taking them out. We can handle it with or without you, but-"

"We'll take it," I said without hesitation. "JARVIS, tell the Avengers to assemble. All of them. Extend an offer to Sif to join us if she would like."

I'd been looking at Steph pointedly as I clarified that I meant all the Avengers and she nodded. When she started walking as though she was going back to her room, I snapped my fingers to get her attention and indicated my closet. She raised an eyebrow, but quickly slipped past me in front of the camera and into the closet. JARVIS began displaying the information that Coulson had sent over, and I studied it carefully as he spoke. Looking over, I watched as Steph walked back out of the closet.

Unfortunately Tony and Bruce hadn't developed the new material yet, so she was in the tank and short skirt. She looked damn good, but I was still worried about her exposed skin getting ripped. Still it was the best option for now, and I knew for the sake of her own confidence that we needed to get her in the field with us today, so it would have to do. I allowed Phil to continue talking as I quickly stepped into the closet and pulled on my own uniform. As I stepped back out, I noticed that Steph was carefully studying the warehouse schematics and other data. Stepping up behind her, I rubbed her shoulders as I finished making sure we had all the information available to us.

"Alright, we'll head out now, and see you after, Phil," I said while grabbing Steph's hand and striding out of the room, grabbing my shield from where it rested next to my side of the bed on the way. JARVIS disconnected the call and as we took the elevator to the landing pad, Steph quickly asked him to inform Hal and Woody that we were on a mission when they woke up.

"Shouldn't I stay behind?" she asked nervously.

"Nope," I said, "you're ready and we can use as many hands in this fight as we've got. Plus, I'd imagine you have a bone to pick with HYDRA as well."

"It isn't as large as yours and Bucky's."

"It's there, and, like I said, we could use the help."

We stepped into the Quinjet hand in hand and studied the team around us, grateful when no one questioned Steph's presence. I was also pleased when I saw that Sif was joining us, knowing I could send her into the field with Steph and she would watch Steph's back while also assessing what areas Steph's training needed to focus on most immediately.

And all that pleased state went right out the window when Tony looked at Steph, who did look more relaxed than she probably should and said, "did you to sleep at all? Or did you just f-"

He cut off as I slammed him against the wall, uncaring of the fact that he was in his suit. Looking straight at the eye slits I growled out, "Finish that sentence, and I will take a can opener to this suit. Then I will end you."

Tony cleared his throat then his head whipped around to look at the rest of the team, "a little help here? Anyone? Steph?"

"I know, I know, feminism, blah blah. I can take care of myself, especially now. Twenty first century, etc. But still, that's kinda hot, so I'm going to just sit this one out, Snark." Steph made a show of sitting down and opening up a granola bar to eat it while just pleasantly watching what was going on in front of her, so I gave her a little wink. I enjoyed her nickname and from the team's snickers, I knew they did too.

"Seems to me," Bucky chimed in, "you should probably promise to try a little harder to think before you speak. And definitely not cast aspersions on Stephanie in the future, especially since they're so obviously in love and there ain't nothin wrong with anything they choose to do together. Steve might just let you go with a warning and we could get on with making HYDRA wish they were never born."

"Seriously, it's not like I meant anything by it. Who am I to judge? Do you have any idea how many women I," Tony started and I cut him off by slamming him against the side of the jet again.

"Tony."

"Ugh! Fine! Steph," I noticed the woman in question give Tony a little finger wave in response, but held in my chuckle and waited for Tony to finish. "I think Capsicle is being a little over sensitive, but I am sorry if I offended you. I honestly meant nothing by it. As long as you two crazy kids are happy, then I'm good with whatever. And I promise to try to think before I speak in the future you just looked… happy. Well, anyway, that's not important. Think you can put me down now Cap, so we can get to work? I promise, you've successfully defended Steph's honor and scared the living daylights out of me for the day."

I gave them an overview of the situation, and once we started hashing out the details of our plan, JARVIS took control of the jet to start moving us in the direction of the Connecticut warehouse. There was a little bit of debate, but for the most part, everyone accepted my plan with limited complaint.

Bucky, Thor, Tony, Natasha, and I were the initial infiltration team. I had Sam, Steph, and Sif staying outside to stop anybody who tried to make a break for it, but they would come in once Coulson's team arrived or if we needed them sooner. Sif and Steph were on the ground, and Sam was on the roof. Once he'd dropped us off, Clint brought the jet back up into the air so it would be less vulnerable to attack, and Bruce stayed with him. Hulk wasn't exactly a precision tool, though he had gotten much better, and it could be quite draining. So if we could avoid using Hulk, we preferred to do so, but appreciated having him as backup as well as having Bruce's medical skills onboard just in case.

From the outside, the facility looked to be an abandoned warehouse, but using Coulson's hacker's intel, we were able to quickly move through the secret entrance and down into the underground lab. By the time we'd eliminated the first few guards, I spoke into the comms, "heads up, the bulk of these guys appear to be both well trained and enhanced."

"Though not all that well enhanced, hardly above average really." Natasha added smugly. "What ever they gave you, Steph, must have been the best they had."

Steph didn't respond, so we glanced at each other as I asked, "Perimeter secure?"

"Rooftop secure," came Sam's immediate but somewhat out of breath response.

A moment later I heard Sif reply, "Section One secure."

"Section Two, Hunter?" Clint asked when I didn't immediately do so because I was locked in a new battle of my own.

"Hang on!" Steph replied. She'd sounded fine, so I waited patiently as we continued moving through the facility, but my heart lept to my throat as she suddenly very audibly cursed, "Mother Fucker! JARVIS, what's Coulson's ETA?"

After a moments' pause, Coulson's voice came on the line, "JARVIS and Skye were able to link our comms. We're about 10 minutes out, what's your status, uh, Hunter? JARVIS said you needed me?"

"My sector is clear except I've got a group of kids here. Looks like they turned what is hopefully an otherwise abandoned outpost into some kind of, admittedly totally kick-ass, fort."

"Alright, stay with them Hunter, and cover them." I said, "Sif and Falcon, I'm sending Widow out to take over Steph's sector and provide her backup if she needs it. Stay on your posts." Natasha had, of course, disappeared before the words were even out of my lips.

"As soon as we land the bus, I'll send one of the SUVs out to the outpost, we see it on our map, and we'll drive those kids out of the perimeter until we get everything completely cleared. Then we'll call local authorities to deal with them."

I listened as Steph approached the group and introduced herself before telling the kids to stay put and promising that if they behaved she'd introduce them to all of the Avengers before we left. It sounded like three children, and if it wasn't for the fact that they were out here alone, I'd say they were quite young. For the most part, it sounded like she had everything under control, trying to keep the children calm while answering their questions as best she could and not clogging the communications line with her chatter. Natasha cleared the sector in question again, instructing Steph to call for backup if she needed it. That was all well and good for approximately 7 minutes. We'd cleared almost all of the inside of the building of the last scientists and muscle we could find. Most of them were restrained, but some of them didn't need restraints. That was when I heard what was undeniably an explosion and the screams of children.

"Well, looks like that outpost wasn't just an outpost or completely abandoned after all. You alright, Hunter?" Sam asked urgently.

"Thirty seconds out," came Natasha's voice, and I could hear the concern in her voice, but forced myself to focus on where I was. "Falcon and Sif, hold your ground for now, that could just be a distraction."

"Two minutes out," said Coulson.

I heard a faint cough and then Steph's voice asking the children if they were okay. Each responded that they were, but it was the last one's shaking voice as he said, "lady, that doesn't look so good," that gave me pause.

Thankfully we'd just finished securing the room we were in, and Tony was scanning it for unidentified, moving life forms and coming up empty.

"I'm not going to lie, kid, it doesn't feel great. Okay, now, remember how I told you that I was going to introduce you to the rest of the Avengers? Well, Black Widow is almost here. But while we wait, I need you to stay in this corner and close your eyes, okay?"

They must have done so, and I heard Steph's mostly muffled cry of pain followed by Natasha's, "Jesus, Hunter. Why'd you go and do that? Come on, at least put some pressure on it!"

"Because now I can move a little and we need to get them out of here. That's a staircase," was Steph's steady reply. Then her voice took on a no-nonsense tone I had yet to hear as she said, "Alright kids, we need to move. Now. Hurry. Coulson, please tell me that SUV is yours."

"Yep, that's Hunter. My team's Hunter. Agent Hunter? We're going to have to figure out a system for that later."

I heard Steph calling to the kids that she'd see them in a bit, brushing off Natasha's insistence that she get in the SUV as well, and then the sound of doors slamming and a car moving quickly away.

"Group just entered upstairs, those you and your team, Coulson?" Tony asked.

"Affirmative."

"Okay, everyone here is restrained, you should be clear to gather them all. Cap, I found a pathway open here, I assume that leads to The Hunter and Black Widow. What do you say we leave cleanup to Coulson and go back them up?"

The sounds of fighting had picked up over the comms, so I looked at the men around me and we all started moving down the hallway in unison. A few guards had been left behind to slow us down along the way, but I quickly took them out with my shield as we moved along at a run.

"ETA on backup?" Natasha asked, "Not that this isn't fun, but these guys must have had a slightly better round of enhancement and that doc there looks awfully keen to get his hands on Hunter."

"Sif and Falcon, any movement anywhere else?"

Clint's voice was the one that responded when he said, "they had a helicopter. They don't anymore, but Sif and Falcon are on the move providing backup with a little flare up from that. A couple soldiers jumped out before the chopper went down, and it was near the SUV with the kids in it."

"Okay, I see the stairs, Hunter, Widow. We're almost there."

As I cleared the top step, I took a split second to take in the man in the lab coat on the ground with a piece of rebar through his chest. Immediately following that, I noticed Steph locked in battle with six men, and Natasha off to the side with three, frantically trying to get closer to Steph who was favoring her right leg which was absolutely covered in blood. Tony took out one of the men Natasha was fighting as Bucky, Thor, and I each pulled back a man attacking Steph.

We quickly dispatched them, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Natasha and Tony do the same with theirs. When the entire team froze, I knew exactly what I was going to see as I looked up. Well, almost exactly. Two of the men had a gun in each hand, everyone but Tony and Steph had a gun pointed at them. They probably figured that their bullets weren't going through Tony's armor anyway, so they'd have to deal with him after eliminating the rest of us. Plus they would still have their hostage. What concerned me the most, however, was the third soldier with the knife to Steph's throat. A man I'd thought to be dead.

"Rumlow," I said calmly, "let her go."

"I don't think I will, Cap. I think I'm taking this one with me. And I have to say, given the fact that I can smell you on her, I think I'm going to enjoy that even more than I was originally thinking."

"Rumlow?" Steph asked, sounding almost bored. "This is the guy?"

When I nodded my head, I noticed that Steph was continually rearranging her grip that was counteracting his chokehold in such a way as to hide from him the movement as she counted down from three with her fingers.

"I have to tell you Buddy," she said conversationally to Rumlow, "this is definitely personal, and I'm going to enjoy the hell out of it."

She lifted her last finger off his arm and Tony covered Natasha even as her arms popped out from around him to shoot the two men with guns. Steph's lightning shot the bullets headed for Thor, Bucky, and I out of the air, with the hand protecting herself from the knife even as the other grabbed Rumlow's face and he dropped with a sizzle and a pop. Glancing around the room, Steph gave a satisfied nod before kicking Rumlow on the ground.

"We might want to cuff this one just in case. I have no idea what that did to him, or if he's somehow going to get back up."

I looked down at him, felt for a pulse, and noticed the hole and mess on the back of his head, opposite of where she'd zapped him.

"Okay, but I don't think that's going to be a problem, Steph."

"We good here?" she asked distractedly.

Bucky and I were assessing the room, and I started to respond when Natasha cursed and jumped forward, catching Steph as she collapsed. I took in the various puddles of blood throughout the room that didn't seem to correlate to a body next to it, and realized that although the flow of blood out of Steph's leg wasn't concerning at the moment, it must have been before we arrived. Reaching down, I pulled her up, and Natasha kept pressure on Steph's thigh as I said, "Tony, Thor, Buck, make sure these guys don't get up, then help Coulson's team with whatever they need. Clint, land that jet, we need Bruce, Steph's lost a lot of blood."

"Clint, land the jet near the Bus. Jemma!"

A soft, British voice replied, "grabbing blood now. Anyone know her type?"

I listened as JARVIS supplied the information but was focusing on carrying Steph and listening to her breathing more than the conversation. When I reached the jet, I laid her down on the floor by Bruce's feet. He had an IV bag and fluids ready to go and quickly stuck the line in Steph. A woman, presumably Jemma, ran up, and they switched over to blood temporarily. Once that was set up, Bruce had Natasha move her hands. The wound was mostly closed, so he poked around at it a little before deciding to just apply a simple wrap to keep pressure on until it finished healing.

"What was it?" I asked quietly.

"Piece of rebar from the explosion. It was long, and I would bet she'd tried to move and decided she couldn't do so well enough to get those kids out with it in. Thankfully they did close her eyes when she asked, so they didn't see it, but I walked in just as she pulled it out of herself. Hardly made a sound." Bruce looked upset, but Natasha just said, "nope. Would have gone through any of our uniforms, doc. That thing was sharp and must have been moving fast. Doesn't matter that she didn't have pants on."

Steph stirred just as Bucky asked through the comm, "that explain the piece of rebar in this scientist?"

Steph struggled to sit up, and rather than trying to keep her down, I just helped her up and moved in behind her so she could lean against me. "What can I say? It was handy and I fucking hate that guy."

"What am I missing here? He's just a scientist, maybe a senior one since he got the evac, but just a scientist, right?" Tony asked.

From the look on her face, I thought I knew what she was going to say, a suspicion that was confirmed. "He's the one who kept injecting serums and stabbing me. Doesn't seem he liked being stabbed very much either."

Smiling behind her back, I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. When the first bag of blood finished, Jemma started to get another bag ready, but Steph just waved her off, "I'm fine, really. Save that for another time."

"I'd really rather you didn't need that another time," I reasoned.

"Not for me, but I'm assuming since they have it on board, that is the type of someone on the team." She turned back to Jemma, "I'm sure I would have been fine without, but I do feel much better, so thanks for sparing some. I'd offer to replace it in a couple days, but with the serum..."

"Oh, that won't be necessary." Jemma said with a smile. Jemma had been flitting about with Bruce, making sure that Steph really was alright, so she didn't notice the when rest of the team joined us. Looking up, Jemma squeaked before turning to Steph one more time and saying, "really, it's no problem. Anything for the Avengers, that's our motto. Or, rather, I suppose Coulson's is probably more 'Trust Cap' since that's what the sign in his office says, but the rest of us would just move heaven and earth to help any of you lot in any way we were able. Any time.. Anywhere... A-"

As she continued to babble on, Steph gently interrupted, "Jemma." She waited as Jemma's eyes got really wide as she realized she'd been talking the whole time and abruptly stopped. "Thanks again for the assist. Why don't you take the rest of that blood back to… blood storage? And we'll meet back up with you and the rest of your team shortly?"

When Jemma was out of earshot, Steph turned to look at me and asked, "get that a lot?"

"Some." Clint and Natasha scoffed, but I just eased out from behind Steph and stood. Holding out my hand I asked, "you good to go?"

A look of surprised relief crossed her face when she realized I didn't intend to make her stay down when she was feeling better. And why would I when I hated being treated that way myself?


	24. Celebrity

_**Steph's POV** _

Apparently one of the kids managed to call home while under the supervision of Lance (as he told me he would now be called by his team and ours on comms to make things easier). And my luck being what it often was, the person he talked to on the phone was none other than his reporter aunt who was visiting for the weekend. Of course she selflessly offered to pick him up, and was able to drive up behind the Bus and observe, with her camera, unnoticed for quite a while. I guess that's what happens when everyone is scattered about a large area while understaffed with lots of bad guys to monitor and take care of. The non-hostile, not-so-bad guys that show up partway through can slip through the cracks. Something I'm sure we'd be talking about after debrief. It was too late by the time we noticed her to do anything as she'd already emailed the footage of me getting my field transfusion to her boss.

Not even Sam's friendly nature when he discovered the woman was able to charm her out of the story. Steve noticed Sam talking to her after he helped me up, so he glanced down at my leg and shifted in front of me to provide me some cover as I cleaned myself up as best as possible using supplies that Bruce quickly handed me. When I looked up, my entire team had spread out in front of me, offering me the most privacy possible.

"Well, I think that's as good as it gets," I said.

Noticing me reaching for the bandage, Bruce said softly, "I'd prefer if you'd leave that until we get back to the Tower. I think you might have nicked an artery, and while it repaired itself quickly, I'd still feel better if you left pressure on it until at least then."

"No problem, Bruce. Thanks for the medical assist."

I raised my eyebrows at Steve and he gave me another once over before saying, "you'll do."

"Seriously? I'll do. Psh. Way to make a girl feel special there."

Steve laughed and looped an arm around my waist with his shield on his other arms as we walked back off the jet to see if there was anything else we needed to do while in full pretend-there-isn't-a-camera-out mode. I pulled him up short and signaled to the rest of the team to stay put when I saw the SUV with the children pulling up. As soon as it stopped, I nodded at Lance for him to let the kids out.

They all ran straight for me screaming, "you're okay! You're okay!" Steve stepped to the side allowing all three of them to wrap their arms around me so I was surrounded in hugs.

Laughing I said, "I'm fine. Now, I believe I promised you some introductions."

It was in that moment that the kids fully registered Steve standing next to me, as they somehow hadn't in their rush to get to me. I watched the littlest one's eyes go wide and his jaw drop open at the sight of Captain America in full uniform standing next to him. I totally understood that feeling, though mostly for entirely different reasons. Figuring it was better to get it over all at once, I gestured for the team to join us.

A couple hours later we were in the jet taking off for home, when something one of the kids said struck me. I turned to Steve and said, "hey, wanna have some fun?"

He looked at me with utter disbelief then at the team staring at me completely wide eyed as well.

"Not that! You all need to get your minds out of the gutter!"

Steve's lips twitched and he said, "what did you mean then?"

"It was something that kid said about calling The Avengers. Have you ever done that? I mean what happens if I pick up the phone and call Captain America?"

"I answer?"

"Not you, Steve. Captain America!"

"That really clarifies matters," Natasha said in a way that told me it didn't at all.

"JARVIS, help a girl out?"

"Certainly, Steph."

While the call was connecting, I said, "as I was helping the one kid to the car, he said he was going to call the police once he was inside because the time he called Captain America, Captain America told him that if he ever got in trouble to make sure he called 911."

A ringing sound filled the jet and everyone quieted down.

"Welcome to The Avengers Initiative VIP line; your call is very important to us. To speak to an Avenger, Press or Say 'One' now."

"One."

"Please say the name of the Avenger you wish to speak to, and we will connect your call as soon as we can."

With a wink at Steve, I said, "Captain America, please."

We listened to the hold music for a few minutes before a voice doing a very poor imitation of Steve said, "Hi-de-ho, what's buzzin', cousin?"

Steve let out a derisive snort and Bucky rolled his eyes, and I had to stifle my laughter before I squealed out, "oh my god, is this REALLY, Captain America?"

"Yes, ma'am."

I let out a high pitched girly squeal of delight, and smiled at Natasha when she joined in, giving the illusion of a girl party. Bruce just had his head buried in his hands while Steve watched my antics, resigned to his fate.

"Don't flip your wig there, Baby-doll."

"Wow, you sure get back on the phones quick, I saw on Twitter that you were just in a fight. I hope you weren't hurt."

"Nothing to worry about, Cookie."

"Those HYDRA sure seem evil, did you kill them all yet?"

"Not yet, but I'll keep fighting for freedom and liberty until they're all gone!"

The conversation continued with bits of horribly cheesy forties slang and patriotic propaganda thrown in anywhere the guy could manage for a few more minutes before I took pity on Steve and told the guy I had to go. He signed off with a "remember, you don't have to be super to be mighty."

"That was awful!" Steve cried out when the call had disconnected, "do we pay them to do that?"

JARVIS spoke up, "it seems it is part of a licensing agreement with one of the toy manufacturers. Certain action figures come complete with VIP phone access to the Avengers."

"I'll have them send their scripts to us for approval, shall I?" Tony asked, receiving enthusiastic agreement from everyone. "At least that means it is more like they pay us to be able to do that though, as opposed to being the other way around."

I had to agree with that.

When we made it into the Tower, I walked down the stairs to my floor from the landing pad, followed by Steve and Bruce. Without hesitating, I walked into Steve's suite and sat on the couch, pulling off the bandage. I allowed Bruce to poke around for a few minutes before I asked, "all good?"

"Can't even tell there was anything there. Thanks for humoring me."

"No problem."

I watched as Steve walked Bruce out, thanking him again for his help. Once the door was shut behind him and Steve had activated privacy protocols, I stood up and stripped off my uniform and strode into the bathroom calling over my shoulder, "hey, wanna have some fun?"

Five hours later, I woke up as the sun was setting. Marathon sex and Avenging followed by more sex and belated sleep really messed with your system and day. Slipping out from under Steve's arm, I pressed a kiss to his forehead before getting dressed, as well as  _dressed_  knowing it would be bad to go out without some personal protection, and heading down to the common floor.

Seeing Hal and Woody sitting on the couch, I said, "I've got some quick errands to run. Want to come with and pick up some takeout on the way back?"

"Sounds good."

"Can you stay plainclothes?"

"No problem."

I pulled my jacket off from the hook by the door and on a whim grabbed Steve's baseball hat from above his jacket, pulling it low over my eyes. The guys grabbed their jackets and we were on our way.

Standing in the elevator, Woody spoke first, "saw the pictures of earlier. Your leg looked fucked up and you were covered in what appeared to be a good deal of your own blood. You alright?"

"Yep, just an issue with some rebar from an explosion. It was healed by the time we made it back to the Tower; Bruce signed off on a full bill of health."

"Well that must be nice," said Hal.

"It is pretty good!"

As we approached the ground floor, JARVIS suggested that we allow Happy to take us out of the building in a tinted car, and drop us wherever we wanted to go. We agreed and I gave Happy a hug and a kiss in greeting before we settled into the car for a brief ride.

Hal and Woody had always been two of my favorite Merry Men to have on guard duty because they actually talked, and they usually didn't complain too much when I dragged them around from store to store. Halfway through the third store, a beauty store where I was picking up some hair dye and a blonde wig, my phone rang and I smiled when I saw Steve's name on the screen, smacking Hal upside the head when he started teasing me about my reaction.

"Hey," I said.

Steve's voice sounded deliciously sleepy as he said, "where are you?"

"Out running some errands. Please don't worry, Hal and Woody are with me. Happy gave us a ride out, I'm wearing your hat just in case, and so far no one has noticed us. Thai food is still on your list of things you need to try, right? I was going to pick some up on the way back."

"Sure sounds good. Movie with it?"

"Yep, works for me. We'll call it in now and be back soon."

I hung up and looked over at where Woody and Hal were staring at me with big knowing grins on their faces. Sticking my tongue out them, I said, "what?"

"That was so... You're so... Domestic right now." Woody commented, "you didn't give him a hard time about checking up on you, you're clearly running errands for the both of you, and you're bringing home dinner."

I pointed a finger at him and narrowed my eyes, "I'm planning to get dinner for you as well, so I'd recommend being nice."

Hal cut in to try to keep the peace with, "I think what Woody means is just that it is good to see you happy. We've all been worried about you for the past year and a half because we just want you to be happy. All of us," he reiterated making eye contact that clearly emphasized that he meant Ranger especially.

"Thanks, I whispered back. I am happy here, and Steve makes me happy."

They both smiled at me and I gave them playful shoves like I imagined I would my brothers if I had any. I suppose that's what the Rangemen really always will be to me. Taking my phone out, I placed a call to a Thai restaurant down the street from the Tower as I was checking out.

"I know you can eat Hal and I under the table these days, Darlin' and Steve can too, but that is a hell of a lot of food you just ordered," Woody commented in a stunned voice.

"Well, I figured it would be rude to talk about food in front of Bucky, Natasha, and Clint like that without offering them any. They'll have to materialize out of the shadows long enough to help us carry it back though. And if we're feeding them, might as well have enough for everyone."

"We'll do you one better, Steph," Clint said appearing at my shoulder, "we'll pick it all up, and you three take all that stuff back to the Tower, okay?"

"Oh yeah? What'd I'd do to earn that?"

"Simple," Natasha commented, "you saw us, which means you're paying attention and taking your safety seriously. And you proved you could take care of yourself today, this was mostly a way for us to see how much we needed to teach you. When did you pick us up?"

"Saw Bucky in the first store because they were being way too aggressive with their heater and he kept his jacket and gloves on anyway. Once I knew he was there, it was easy to find you two. That really was a half-hearted make-out session."

Natasha's lips quirked, "well, we were working. Don't worry, I'll make it up to him later."

"Ha! I'm sure you will. Alright, we'll see you back at the Tower."

In hindsight, I clearly just shouldn't have pushed my luck. There was one item on my list that I hadn't been able to find and had resigned myself to shopping for online, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a perfect version of it. As I stepped into the store, I heard a few whispers, but I shrugged them off and told myself I would just make sure to try on the shirt quickly. When I stepped out of the changing room, I saw Woody and Hal looking much more tense and the store much more crowded than when we entered. I kept my head down, but I knew it was too late. Quickly walking up to the register, I handed the woman the shirt. Her eyes widened and she nodded her head when she saw the name on my credit card.

"Oh my goodness, you're Stephanie Plum. You're THE HUNTER!" she practically screamed the last bit, and I winced. I knew super hearing would be a problem sometime.

Quickly taking in her name tag I said, "hi Mandy, that's right I am. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Are you really dating Captain America? Why isn't he here and who are these men? You can't seriously be cheating on him already!"

My head was whirling. How was it possible for this woman to so quickly go from being excited to meet me to accusing me of cheating? "Yes, I am dating Captain America. We had a very busy day, and he had some things to do in the Tower. These are my very good friends, and they wanted to keep me company so we could catch up more today. I haven't seen them much since I moved to New York. Lastly, I am ridiculously in love with Steve, and I will never cheat on him. I will never hurt him in any way. Thank you for looking out for him though." So saying her, I handed her my signed credit card slip and murmured, "Thank you for your help, and have a wonderful day."

We pushed our way through the crowd that had gathered around us, Hal and Woody on either side of me. As we stepped onto the street, we moved at a brisk pace, but as we kept hearing my name or call sign yelled out, I forced myself to stay calm and slow down. I smiled and waved, and out of the corner of my mouth I asked, "how loud was I in that store?"

"Yeah, you weren't quiet, Darlin'. And I saw a few camera phones out. Sorry, but I didn't think confiscating them would be a good PR move."

"Good call. Let's play nice on our way back, take our time." Changing my speed even more to slow down, I whispered, "JARVIS, play the last five to ten minutes of conversation back. Send the audio clip starting with the woman recognizing me through to Woody and I talking just now, to Steve. Please also tell him, 'sorry, I created a bit of a mess. I let her get to me, and I shouldn't have. I've got a crowd with me, so it's going to take me a while to politely get back to the Tower. Sit tight, I'm fine. See you soon.' Then send a copy of just the audio with the woman in the store to the PR team, so they're aware and let them know there's probably video."

We made our way slowly back to the Tower, and I noticed that SI security was already camped out in numbers outside ready to escort us, and just us, back in the building quickly and efficiently. Once the elevator doors had closed behind us, I leaned my head against the wall and then started banging it repeatedly. Which is how the rest of the team found me when the elevator doors opened up despite my guys trying to reassure me that it wasn't actually that bad.

Without a word, they grabbed the rest of my bags from me, pulling them out of the elevator as I turned and walked straight into Steve's arms, burrowing into his chest. The elevator doors closed to give us a little privacy, and I stayed curled into him, just soaking in the comfort of being with him.

"I'm sorry!"

"First of all, we've all had people get the best of us on camera like that before- depending on how long you were in there and whether or not anyone had time to do so, you might have even been set up. There's one very high quality video including clear audio out there that makes me think they had a microphone on her." I stilled a little because that idea hadn't even crossed my mind. I hadn't been in the dressing room more than 5 or 10 minutes, but I supposed that may have been long enough if someone was nearby when they found out I was in the store. It certainly hadn't taken the regular fans very long. "Second of all, what you said was fantastic as far as I'm concerned. I love you a ridiculous amount too, so we're even. And I don't care who knows it, Steph."

_**Darcy's POV** _

The elevator doors closed on Steph and Steve, but we knew they'd be coming back out in a minute. Dinner was here, and cooling quickly, but Steve just wanted some time to comfort and check in with Steph in privacy. Seeing the bags, I grabbed a couple and helped the men carry them quickly up to Steph's room. Of course, I took a moment to peek through them myself, quickly realizing that it was Halloween costumes for the two of them. It didn't take me long to figure out what they were, and I had to laugh. It was actually kinda great and it quickly gave me an idea of costumes for Bucky and I that we could surprise Steph and Steve with by matching.

Cackling to myself, I headed back downstairs with Hal and Woody just in time to see the lovebirds walk back off the elevator.

"We left you alone for 5 minutes, Steph," Bucky said grumpily. "And you make an unscheduled stop and cause a scene."

I walked over to him and squeezed his shoulder slightly knowing he sounded harsher than he probably intended because he felt guilty about what had happened. Steph seemed to have figured that out though because she didn't take it personally, just laughed and said, "what can I say? My luck and timing are legendary in Trenton. You'll learn that soon enough. I don't think that's something that any serum can fix."

"Truthfully," I said, "I've been tracking the situation on social media since Cap told me what happened, and you're good. People are not reacting all that kindly to the cashier, and they're loving you. The video of you saving that baby is still popular, as are clips of your interview and the video we let Jackie have of all of us singing and dancing to 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. People are mostly loving on you. And Cap's statement totally helped."

I watched Steph's surprised look, as she turned to Steve and raised an eyebrow. He just blushed and shrugged his shoulders before walking over to the kitchen to dish them both up plates of food. Seeing his nod in my direction though, I pulled up his Facebook page on my tablet and passed it off to her.

"I am grateful for those wishing to ensure my happiness, but there is an appropriate time and manner for this. I trust Stephanie in all things completely, and I love her absolutely. I am honored to have her by my side."

Steve's quick reflexes were all that saved their plates as he quickly set them down before Steph launched herself at him again, peppering kisses all over his face. Everyone started laughing except for me, I was sniffling just a little when Bucky came up behind me a slid an arm around my waist and whispered in my ear, "I knew it, you're secretly a sap, aren't you?"

I cleared my throat and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm onto you."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, how's it going? What are you liking? What isn't working for you? Let me know! Leave a review, or if you'd rather PM, the story is on FF as well, and I have the same username!


	25. Schedule

_**Steve's POV** _

"Good morning, Steph and Steve. It is 5 o'clock in the morning on Sunday, October 26 and it is currently 46 degrees and clear outside."

JARVIS paused just long enough for Steph to pull the covers over her head and say emphatically, "No no no! Day of rest! Day of rest!"

As we'd only gone back to sleep a few short hours ago, I was on her side, but I knew JARVIS would have only woken us up if it was important. He continued as though he hadn't heard Stephanie with firm-sounding, "I have put your schedule up on the wall and feel it prudent to warn you that you don't have much time before your first engagement."

I pulled myself out of bed, smiling when Steph protested then snuggled into the warm spot I'd left with the covers around her.

"Schedule? What schedule? We get up, go for a run. I train for a million hours and sometimes I get to take a break to eat. Then we go back to sleep and wake up in the morning, at whatever time we feel like it for the most part, to do it again? Used to be I only had half a million hours of training and I spent the rest of the time looking for people, but I don't have people to look for anymore, so there we go."

I'd have taken that all a little personally if not for the fact that I knew she just wasn't a morning person. Reaching down, I threw the covers aside and quickly grabbed the delightfully naked Steph, throwing her over my shoulder and walking to the shower. Unfortunately, there was only time for a little bit of teasing in the shower, and I quickly found myself wrapped in a towel while Steph climbed out and started messing with her hair. Pulling on some boxers, I stepped quickly out of my suite toward Steph's.

I pulled up short when I recognized Ranger, Tank, and Hector sitting on the couches in our common area. When they turned and looked at me but didn't do anything more than nod, I nodded back and quickly strode into Steph's suite. I grabbed clean uniforms for us both, knowing the ones in my room would be cleaned, repaired, and returned before we got back. I also looked through her closet and grabbed a titanium silver leather jacket for her and her flare boots, grateful that they were tall enough to cover most of her leg when combined with the skirt.

As I walked back through the common room, Hal and Woody had joined the other men. The former spoke up, "I let them in, Captain."

"It's no problem, Hal. And it's Steve." I paused and looked at everyone, "That goes for all of you. We've got a busy day tonight, but I was planning to start the day on the bike. I've got extras, can you all ride?"

"Yes," Ranger replied, "and that's fine. Do you have a copy of your schedules we can review?"

"JARVIS, give them the schedule." I gestured over at the wall when JARVIS brought the schedule up before hurrying back into my rooms.

Not knowing what state of dress Steph would be in, or where in the rooms she would be, I only opened the door a little before I slid in. Steph was standing in a towel and just looked at me clearly waiting for an explanation.

"We've got company waiting." I handed her uniform over as I said, "we're starting at the VA where we'll have breakfast with some veterans. It was originally just supposed to be Bucky and Sam this weekend, but I'm guessing someone on PR decided to capitalize on the buzz right now and have us go as well. I thought we'd take my bike for at least the first half of the day- I promise not to crash and scuff up your gorgeous legs."

I ran my hands up her bared legs as she pulled on her undergarments, laughing when she batted my hands away muttering for me not to start things I had no intention of finishing.

"I intend to finish it, just not until tonight."

She just shook her head and walked over to the schedule and read through it while pulling on her uniform. "Cool. Are we doing all of this in uniform?"

"It would probably be best if we did, but we can come back and change before lunch then change again before we go to the event at the school if you want. Or even not go to the school in uniform. It's always an option not to, but the kids usually get extra excited about the uniforms though."

"No, it's fine; I was just curious. Let's just stay in them for the day then." She gave me a kiss before finishing up her makeup and walking out into the lounge. I couldn't stop the smile when I heard her squeal and clap her hands. I finished getting my uniform on and grabbed my wallet, as well as Steph's, and stashed them in my pockets. Putting my shield on my back, I walked out, unsurprised to find Steph being passed from Hector to Tank then Ranger for big hugs.

"Those are some serious duds, Steph," Ranger said looking at her with an assessing gaze after releasing her.

"Oh, this old thing?" Steph toyed with the skirt and said, "apparently it's only temporary. I originally had long sleeves and pants, but they couldn't handle my electricity so they had to go. Captain Buzzkill over there says that I have to go back to the long pants and long sleeves once Tony and Bruce figure out a solution to that problem so my skin doesn't get ripped up in fights, even though it will heal."

I rolled my eyes, something I seemed to have picked up in just a couple days from Steph and noticed Hector's smirk in reaction, "I would never tell you that you have to do something, Steph. I just strongly recommended. If you don't want to change it, you can keep wearing this uniform. Though, it'll be cold here soon, and we go to even colder places sometimes, so I would probably recommend having a more winter-appropriate uniform as well so you don't freeze." I shuddered just saying that word, and noticed Steph's eyes widened in sympathy.

"Good call. Wouldn't want Tony to start calling me Stephcicle or something like that!" I shook off the memories of ice and cold to smile at Steph in response as she said, "which reminds me, I have a song to teach you for the next time he goes for 'Capcicle' or one of his ice-related nicknames!"

"He doesn't actually call you that though, right?" Tank asked.

"So far it seems that there isn't much Mr. Stark won't call someone," Hal spoke up, and Steph nodded in agreement.

"Please," Steph said, "I've heard the things you Merry Men all call each other. It's like some kind of weird guy thing to show affection by making fun of each other. I honestly don't understand; I'll dish it out in retaliation when I have to, but I feel like nicknames should be friendly not purposely digging! I call you all my Merry Men, but that's a good thing. So is Batman, Ranger! I mean, you don't see me calling Natasha 'Carrot Top' or 'Matryoshka' or anything like that, just approved nicknames like 'Nat'."

"And I really think that's for the best," Natasha said calmly, allowing a Cheshire Cat grin to cross her face as all five of the Rangemen and Steph jumped. I didn't, not because I'd heard her approaching, but because I'd learned to just expect Natasha to materialize in  _any_  location at  _any_  moment. "I heard your voices and I was surprised. Don't you need to be on your way? Bucky and Sam already left."

"We're going, we're going," Steph said while herding everyone into the elevator. "Not that you're not welcome, but why are you all here?"

"Knowing your propensity for creepy stalkers, Babe, we figured we'd increase your security for at least a couple days now that pretty much all the cats are out of the bag."

"I still really don't think this is necessary. I'm like crazily more difficult to shoot now and I heal like whoa. See my leg? Big piece of rebar in it yesterday, not even a scar today."

"You're not invincible, Steph," I reasoned. When she turned on me with a glare, I just held my hands up in surrender. She wasn't going to win this argument anyway, but I'd let the others be the ones to fight with her on it. As expected Steph bickered her way down to the garage, but finally gave in. Just because she'd agreed, didn't mean she was happy about it, so as soon as the elevator doors opened, she stormed off.

Exiting the elevator myself, I stuck my arm out to hold the doors open and looked over to Natasha who was staying in to go back upstairs and I said, "tell the others, uniforms at lunch?"

"No problem, Steve. And Steph!" Natasha called out, waiting until Steph turned her full attention back, "having someone else watch your back is a good call, no matter how well you heal. The crowds will be big for a while anytime they figure out where you are. You can't watch everyone all by yourself, especially when you need to be playing nice. Even with Cap, there's no way. Let them do what they both need and want to do so that you can focus on why you're out there, okay?"

Steph smiled and nodded, clearly more at ease that she wouldn't appear weak by doing so.

"Thanks," I whispered in appreciation.

I strode over to the group that was staring at my motorcycle collection.

"Got enough bikes here, Captain?" Woody asked. Mentally I vowed to find a way to get them to call me by my first name some day.

"They keep sending them to me, and I like bikes, so I don't say no. Plus, I wouldn't want to be ungrateful," I responded with a shrug. Turning to Steph I asked, "you want your own or are you riding with me today?"

"With you, please!" That was exactly the decision I'd hoped she'd make, as I loved having her snuggled up behind me on a drive. Not to mention her boots would have made driving difficult. I walked over to my primary bike and noticed that Tony had, true to his word, replaced Steph's helmet with one that had the Avengers logo on the side. Under it I found the harness I'd asked him to make for her as well.

I started slipping her arms through it and adjusting the fit as I explained, "when I ride alone, I usually just keep my shield on my back these days. Last time I had you on here with me, we put it on the side and you got shot in the back. So we're going to try this- you wear the shield on your back when we ride. Simple magnetic release. It's strong, but you shouldn't have any difficulty removing it."

Satisfied with the fit, I pulled the shield off my back and put it on hers. I watched as she reached back and pulled it off then slid it back into place with a nod of her head, "easy enough. I have to say though, I expected it to be heavier."

"Two weeks ago it would have been," I pointed out.

"Touché."

We settled onto the bike together and looked over to see the rest of the men just standing there gaping at us.

"You guys coming or what?" Steph yelled over the sound of me revving the bike engine.

Seemingly brought out of their shock by the sound, the men quickly picked out bikes and slid the plain black helmets that were resting on top of them onto their heads. Ranger and Hector took the lead, Hal and Woody flanked us, and Tank brought up the back as we pulled out of the Tower.

As we cleared the gates, I completely understood Steph's shocked gasp- there were more people than I'd ever seen waiting outside. SI security had to bring out barriers and had guards stationed along it to make sure no one rushed us on our way out of the building.

"JARVIS, are the guys on our helmet frequency?"

"We're here, Steph," Ranger said calmly.

"I don't know if it's just nerves, but I have a really bad feeling right now. Can we get out of here, fast?" Before she'd even finished talking, I felt her arms tighten around me in preparation. Knowing how much these men trusted her gut, I wasn't surprised when they immediately sped off.

Before too long, we pulled into the VA Vet Center parking lot which was crowded as well. In this case, the event was a fundraiser, so as far as I was concerned, the more people there the better. Having never been to this Manhattan center before, I paused for a second once inside trying to get my bearings. It was just enough time, however for Ranger to step forward and say, "this way, Captain, Steph."

Following his lead I said, "Steph didn't mention that you were former... Well, I'll assume Army Rangers then?"

"Mostly former, yes. Sometimes Uncle Sam still sends me out, but mostly I just consult for them these days. I'd really rather be where I am most days, elite corporate and residential security. That's why I started Rangeman. I don't even do as much skip tracing anymore- might just close that branch entirely if Steph is well and out."

From the way Steph stiffened next to me, I could tell that she'd been unaware that Ranger was keeping that branch of the business open for her benefit.

Taking my phone out, I texted Tony.

_"Hey, Stark. You remember how you've been complaining about not having nearly enough Tower security staff after you smoked out HYDRA to provide security and grown The global branch?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Ever think about seeing if Ranger and his employees would be willing to be bought out and transferred?"_

_"Interesting. No. Do you think they would?"_

_"I think it is possible. Especially with Steph staying."_

_"And you'd be alright with Ranger being around all the time?"_

_"I don't see why not."_

_"Of course you don't. That's definitely an idea. Let me think about it, and then talk to Ranger."_

I put away my phone, and turned to Steph who said, "you look mighty proud of yourself."

"Well, I think I might have just solved a problem for Stark."

"That was nice of you."

We walked over to the line and each grabbed plates of food as I studied the layout around us. There were clearly four big tables. Bucky and Sam were each at their own, and there were open spaces for Steph and I to sit one each at the remaining two. I wasn't sure how she would take that, given that this was her first such event, but before I could say anything, she just pressed a kiss to my cheek and wandered off to the far table. Glancing between the two, I was pleased with her choice. She was sitting with a table full of older veteran, leaving me the table of younger men.

I walked up to the table and sat down with a self-deprecating smile, "sorry about that, looks like you're stuck with me," I said.

There was polite laughter and then one man spoke up and said, "Nah, we were saying that we hoped it went this way. None of us wanted to risk annoying you by being too friendly with your girl."

"You'd be smarter being concerned about pissing her off than me, frankly."

I introduced myself to everyone, then listened as they each went around and introduced themselves, giving the highlights of when they'd served, how many tours, and where as well as what all they were up to now and how long they'd been out. Some of my nervousness for Steph went away when I heard a delighted laugh from her and looked over to find her absolutely enthralled in conversation with her table. It was going to be a good day.

_**Ranger's POV** _

Obviously there had been some people gathered outside the Tower when we'd arrived this morning, but it in the short time we waited for Steph and Steve to get ready, the crowd seemed to have grown exponentially. Needless to say I was ill-at-ease with the numbers of our guard when we first pulled out of the building, but I was willing to travel at a slower speed to allow the crowds a look knowing it was probably the better PR move. When Steph got spooked though, I had no qualms about high-tailing it out of there. Steph may have been unsure if it was just nerves, but I knew her better than that. Her spidey sense rarely if ever gave her false alarms. Still, we managed to put on some speed and make it out of there and to the VA without further incident.

We'd seen the pictures from yesterday of Steph in her uniform and even seen her in it in person this morning, yet there was something more final about following her around for the day and seeing her new life develop in front of us. When I'd sent her off with Tony months ago, I'd expected her to go and even though I knew he was hoping she'd stay, I didn't really expect it to happen. I was so happy for her, and the life she was developing was what I truly did want for her. But it still pained me to think about her staying here and not getting to see her much at all.

Until we'd hit a roadblock when she asked me for a relationship I couldn't give her, I would have considered her my best friend. Realistically I was closer to her and opened up to her more than anyone else, including Tank. Sure, Tank watched out for my physical well-being, but once I'd let Steph in even a tiny bit, she'd shoved her way into my life and made sure to watch out for my emotional health. The same was true for almost all of the men in my Trenton office, and since she'd left, it had been like a giant void that couldn't be filled.

When the news among my employees had spread that Steph was now an Avenger, the reactions hit a wide range of emotions. Everyone was happy for Steph and thought it was hilarious that after years of her calling  _me_  Batman, she found herself thrust into the role of superhero. And they liked the idea of her dating Captain America because they figured there was probably no one in the world who would be more loyal and trustworthy. What more could someone ask for in a man with whom their sister, as they almost all viewed her, was falling in love?

Thankfully, the battle itself that the Avengers had fought in hadn't been televised, though it would only be a matter of time before one was, because I'd had my hands full trying to keep every single one of my men from rushing off to Manhattan when the first photo had been found of Steph with her leg covered in blood and getting a field transfusion. Rebar. I'd been there, and that was part of what made It amazing to see her without a scar today. But, just because she could heal and likely protect herself from most assaults, that didn't mean someone couldn't get her with the element of surprise. So, I'd put Ram in charge for the day, and personally taken extra back-up to her. I'd known she would fight us on it, but I was glad we'd won and that The Black Widow had made it just a little less painful of a process.

From my spot along the wall, I nodded at a few people I saw, veterans and employees alike, who I recognized, but mostly focused on Steph and her teammates. Each man kept checking in on her periodically, no doubt unsure of her comfort level with the situation since she'd never served, but she was doing beautifully. She'd had the old men at her table all but eating out of her hand in about ten seconds flat. As each told her stories, she'd give them her full attention, and seemed to be making all the right overtures to keep them happy and make them feel appreciated.

After about an hour, one of the men, hunched over in old age, stood and held his arm out to Steph. She winked at Steve as she walked past him on the old man's arm and shortly found herself over by the buffet line again. This time, she walked along the back being introduced by the old vet to each person working a station. Taking them all in, she clearly figured out that one young man who was working on cooking the pancakes had some sort of injury and was uncomfortable from how long he'd been standing. I watched with amusement as she, without dinging his pride even one tiny bit, managed to talk him into giving her his apron, fixing himself a plate, and going off to eat at a table, leaving Steph to cook pancakes. Which, when I thought about it, was actually an awful idea.

Just as I tried to decide how best to intervene while leaving  _her_  pride intact, Steve made his excuses from his table, and replaced the person working the other half of the grills next to Steph cooking sausages and bacon. With two of them in the same spot, my team and I adjusted our posts closer in, and I could hear Steve teasing Steph, "you thought you'd thank them for their service by poisoning them?"

Much to my surprise, rather than get angry, she just responded with, "I figured you'd come over here and protect them eventually. Plus, this way we can greet more people now that we're done eating as they come through the lines."

Still when it became obvious that Steve was doing the bulk of the work on both griddles to keep Steph from burning the pancakes or trying to scoop them off uncooked, Bucky and Sam walked over and joined in the line, effectively scooting Steph down until she was handing out drinks and chatting with people as they went off to enjoy their breakfast.

Once the breakfast was over, they stayed around, with Falcon giving an impressive guest lecture on PTSD. Steph, Steve, and Bucky sat behind him and off to the side on the stage nodding along as he talked about night terrors, among other topics, and encouraged everyone to find help of whatever type they needed. When he'd finished the talk, Steve quickly said a few words, thanking everyone there for their service and/or their support of those who served.

From the Vet Center, we wound our way back toward Central Park where there was a big fall/Halloween Carnival being thrown by the Avengers in support of an orphanage the Avengers had set up initially to support children whose family died in the Battle of New York. My understanding was that it had grown immensely in scope since then. Steve had coordinated the arrival through the communications equipment and JARVIS, so as we pulled up, so did the rest of the team.

To start, they had a mini red carpet set up, that the children could go through and get pictures with the Avengers. Children from the orphanage wore wristbands that got them everything for free, but there were plenty of additional people there, paying and making donations where appropriate.

We'd been scattered in a formation mostly around Steph for the first couple hours, taking short breaks to eat some lunch from the barbecue at Pepper's insistence, when Tony broke away from the crowd and sidled up next to where I was leaning with my back to a tree. As I watched Steph he asked, "are you sorry you sent her with me?"

"Not really, no. This is clearly good for her and she fits right in; I'm sure she would have even without the serum. We all miss her though. The office isn't the same without her breezing in and out, livening the place up. I think she's the whole reason a lot of the men are still around, in terms of not quitting but also in terms of not doing stupid shit and getting shot. I'm concerned that my turnover rate is about to get outrageously high."

"And what about you," he asked me bluntly, "you going to 'apply pressure' and try to get in their way?"

Ah, so I see Steph had been exceedingly honest with the team. Without hesitation, I found myself doing the same, "no, I'm not. She wasn't happy with Morelli and they were never really together together. And I meant what I told her when she asked for a relationship. I can't give her that. I can't give anyone that. I don't have it in me. Clearly Steve makes her happy, and that's all I want. If anything I'm hoping that they'll last and I'll have my best friend back because she won't be hurt by my rejection anymore. Of course, I'll hardly ever get to see her, unless she needs protection, and it was hard to convince her she needed that before she got powers, so I don't think that will be all that often."

"So, no. You're not going to cause problems for them."

"No, I'm not. I'm going to encourage and support them in every way I can."

"Good otherwise I wouldn't be able to make you this offer. SHIELD wasn't the only one who had problems with HYDRA infiltration; Stark Industries did too. And SI security as well as the branch that supports the Avengers, Stark Industries Global Security division, are severely understaffed and it is causing a lot of strain. Would you be at all open to the idea of being bought out? Anyone, including you, who was interested in transferring, would be welcome as long as they passed the background check, including a HYDRA screening. Comes with an apartment on site at the Tower. I'm particularly interested in you and your inner circle for Avengers' security matters and support work."

"I think I'd be very interested in hearing that offer. Though I prefer the term 'merger' to 'acquisition', for the record."

"Okay, well, I gotta get back over there. Peppers already working on the initial offer, if you want to call up your lawyers and whoever else would need to be involved, perhaps we can get started tonight. Pepper informs me that there is a team dinner, with mandatory attendance for all, and that you and she have a surprise for Steph included in that. But let's chat more before dinner, okay? And we can continue after if we need to."

I nodded my head in agreement and watched as Tony strode back over to the team.


	26. Weapons and Halloween

_**Steph's POV** _

My first day of heavy PR had gone well, and it ended up being not as frightening as I'd expected it to be. But it had required heavy crowd control, and by the end of the day, I'd been feeling more than a little worn out. When Pepper had called a mandatory team dinner at the end of the day, I'd wanted to blow it off, but Steve had sweetly cajoled me into taking a little time to recharge and then going to dinner as requested. Recharging had involved snuggles and a catnap, but not sex with Steve muttering something about how it would be "way too obvious" what we'd done. It was true, I was pretty much a walking billboard for getting laid after sex,  _especially_  sex with Steve, but that hadn't stopped him before, so I was puzzled.

That confusion lasted right until I'd walked onto the common floor alone, after Steve ducked back "to get something he forgot", to the shouts of "Aunt Steph! Aunt Steph!" Those cries were immediately followed by two blurs of energy, aka my two oldest nieces, plowing into me with hugs. My father followed not far behind whispering not to worry and that it was just the three of them. Glancing around, I noticed just Pepper in the corner and realized that she must have set this up so that I'd have some quiet time with my family before everyone else came in. Both girls started enthusiastically trying to catch me up on what seemed to be the entire past year of their lives in 5 minutes.

Without fully realizing it, and only half noticing my father gaping at me as I did so, I picked one up on each side and carried them over to the couches where I sat them down next to each other before sitting on the coffee table across from them and giving them my full attention. I had my chin on my hand and was enjoying listening to them, when I felt a pang of guilt that it seemed Mary Alice had grown out of her horse phase, and I figured it was because she didn't have a daily input of Grandma Mazur and I supporting her. It would have happened eventually, but I still felt bad for playing a role in it with my lack of presence in her life.

A full fifteen minutes later, it seemed like the chatter was nowhere near ending. Glancing over at Pepper, I saw her give me a nod and with amusement clearly written all over her face, she mouthed, "they missed you!" Thankfully, Steve chose that moment to walk downstairs, come over to where we were sitting, greet my father, and settle next to me on the coffee table with one arm around my waist. Both girls immediately stopped mid sentence and just sat there staring at him.

After allowing the blissful silence to stretch on long enough to thoroughly entertain and relieve us adults, Steve leaned forward and simply said, "Hi, I'm Steve. I'm guessing you're Angie, and you're Mary Alice? Steph has told me so much about you; it's wonderful to finally meet you."

I chuckled when the girls continued to gape at him, and reached out to gently push their chins so that their mouths closed, "careful, you'll catch flies that way."

"Nonsense," Steve said giving the girls a wink, "flies wouldn't dare invade the Avengers' living space!"

The rest of the team started filing down the stairs, but had yet to draw the girls' attention when Angie leaned over and tried to whisper but instead very loudly said, "Auntie Steph, are you really dating Captain America? Because all of our friends say that you're lying and just saying that for the publicity."

I just said, "it is true, I really am dating Steve."

That clearly got Mary Alice even more excited, so she yelled, "Yes! I knew it! I told them they were full of shit!"

Steve and my dad both coughed behind their hands, trying to cover their laughs, and I was proud of myself for keeping a straight face. Just as I was about to scold Mary Alice on her language, Clint let out a huge laugh and said, "yep! You've got to be related to Steph with a mouth like that!"

I glared at Clint and gave Natasha a look of appreciation when she smacked him upside the head. "Mary Alice," I said, "I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to say that word."

Of course, by that point, they'd turned and seen the team and it was pointless. I shrugged at my dad and said, "I tried," before getting up and making introductions between my two families.

Dinner that night was an absolute mad house. The girls were absolutely charmed by Steve, and managed to get him completely wrapped around their little fingers in no time at all. But it was clear who the actual star was in their eyes, when they kept crowding around Natasha. When we settled in to eat, they insisted on sitting on either side of her, and the look Natasha gave me clearly said, "What the hell am I supposed to do with these girls? Why did you bring this upon me?"

Still, Natasha slipped into the mental space she needed in order to deal with kids, and before long, Mary Alice was loudly proclaiming, "you're my favorite Avenger!"

"Hey!" I cried, in mock offense.

Angie looked over and said, "don't worry, Steph, you're our favorite aunt."

"I'm your only aunt!" I said in exasperation, but the girls refused to back down from Natasha being their favorite Avenger.

Of course, Steve took the opportunity to lean over and kiss me on the cheek and whisper in my ear, "don't worry, you're  _my_  favorite Avenger," which definitely cheered me up. By the time dinner and dessert were eaten, the girls pretty much passed out on the couches in excitement. So Steve picked up Angie and I picked up Mary Alice and we carried them down to my dad's car, giving them each a kiss as I buckled them in before giving my dad a hug and thanking him for coming and bringing the girls.

When we got back upstairs, the Rangemen had shown up and were plowing through another round of dinner that had been sent up for them in the living room. Tony walked over to the bar and popped open several bottles of champagne, pouring them and handing them out to everyone in the room. He looked at Ranger who gave him a nod before saying, "attention, everyone. A few minute details need to be worked out, and the paperwork needs to be officially signed tomorrow, so no public statements yet, but I am proud to announce that Rangeman, LLC has agreed to a merger with Stark Industries Global Security division."

Everyone turned to look at me expectantly, and I smiled wide and said, "Really?" moving my gaze frantically between Tony, Ranger, and Pepper. When they nodded, I let out a whoop and hugged all of the Rangemen in the room before settling back down and asking impatiently, "so what  _exactly_  does that mean?"

"It means that tomorrow morning, I'm flying over to Rangeman Trenton with Tony, Pepper, Hill, and Black Widow to conduct interviews of the current Rangeman personnel. My partners have elected to buy out and keep the other branches, though they'll be changing their names. We'll be interviewing the Trenton employees and those who are interested in doing so will be moving here to become part of the Global Security division providing you all with some extra muscle and support, but also being responsible for security and threats specific to the team. Like stalkers. Those who would prefer not to be involved in the Global level will be offered the opportunity to become part of Stark Industries security under Happy here, or at another SI office with availability. And those who don't like any of their options will get a very generous severance package and reference."

I looked at the five Rangemen sitting amongst the team and said, "you're all coming, right?" When they nodded I bounced around for another round of hugs before plopping down on Steve's lap this time. "And Ranger, don't think I didn't notice the way you said 'stalkers' and looked at me! Which is totally not fair- I don't have any stalkers right now!"

"Why would you even say that?" Darcy cried, "that's almost as bad as saying, 'what's the worst that could happen?' It's just asking for a new stalker!"

"And what do you call that Mario clown?" Bucky demanded.

"I call him a psycho ex skip. He's not so much stalking me as just actively trying to kill me."

There wasn't too much arguing over that fact, I think mostly just out of incredulity that I would have enough experience to so finely tune my definition of a stalker. Talk for a while revolved around how the living situation and Tower would adapt, as well as the glaring holes that would be filled by the addition of Rangeman personnel. In general it seemed that all of the Avengers, and Maria in particular, were relieved by the situation and the reinforcing of their numbers. Eventually, Steve shifted me off his lap gently and stood, clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay, Tony informs me that the five of you have already signed your additional NDAs and contracts, so you can be brought in on everything. We did a debrief last night with Coulson quickly, but there are still some things we need to cover."

He stood in front of a large white wall that JARVIS used to project all the footage he had of the HYDRA base mission. Not more than a couple minutes in, I said, "what's that view?"

Steve stopped and looked at me clearly puzzled, then looked back at the screen and said, "that's your point-of-view Steph, from your camera."

"I have a camera on my uniform?!"

Everyone turned to Tony as one, and he actually looked a little guilty as he asked, "did I forget to tell you about that?"

"Yes! That's my uniform. I have to get undressed, in front of it, in order to put it on!" I turned to Steve, "that was you earlier, wasn't it?! Does your uniform have a camera on it?!"

When he nodded, I just started stammering thinking of the sex we'd had with the uniforms on the floor of his room. What angle had the cameras been at then? Before I could get too freaked out, JARVIS cut in, "Ms. Plum, I want to assure you that I control the cameras and they are only on when you are on a mission."

I grumbled at everyone, especially Tony, but gestured for Steve to continue. Everyone winced when, after the explosion, my camera angled down and they could see the steel sticking out of my leg then again when I ripped it out.

Bruce cleared his throat and said, "you know, Steph. You really shouldn't do that."

On camera Natasha and I hustled the kids out to the car, and my camera showed a weird angle as I tried to apply pressure to my wound in the process. Natasha and I went back in and were barely through the doors when the men came up the staircase and our fighting started. I gestured to the camera and said, "that's why I did it. I was much more likely to die with a bum leg, than a bleeding and healing one, and I wasn't leaving Natasha there alone."

Everyone pondered that for a moment before conceding the point. Once all the video had finished rolling, including Sam's confrontation with the reporter, Steve spoke up again.

"I think on the next call out, once the new guys are trained up and Maria feels they can handle the remote command post, I'd like Maria to be the pilot. That leaves Barton free to find a nest for himself and keep an extra eye out. And just generally help in the fight. If that reporter hadn't been a reporter but had been HYDRA, we would have been in trouble."

Clint nodded in agreement, and Hal spoke up, "I know you probably don't want us out on your missions, but I have experience as a pilot for the Army, all kinds of aircraft, though mostly black hawks. You really shouldn't have a jet in the air in battle without a co-pilot just in case. If someone can train me, I'd be happy to do that for you."

We all agreed that made sense, and Hal let out a breath like he'd been concerned about speaking his mind. It was something he'd have to get used to with this bunch, but at least his first foray into it had gone well.

A few smaller points got brought up before Clint and Natasha shared a look. "JARVIS," Natasha finally said, "bring up the side by side views of Cap and Steph's cameras as well as the team audio at the points I indicated earlier today."

After the clips, it was Clint who spoke up, "it's barely noticeable, and you both did a really good job, especially with it being Steph's first mission. And I understand, Cap, why you strategically put Steph where you did for this round, but you can see slight hesitation for you both when you're worried about the other one. I think we should put you in the field TOGETHER from now on whenever possible. You won't hesitate like that if you know where the other person is. Natasha and I fought in the field side-by-side for YEARS before we were comfortable being separated. And frankly, when I'm in the jet and I know it's going to take me much longer to get to her than if I'm in a perch, I have her camera feed up next to me still."

Steve looked like he was going to protest for a minute, and he still said, "I trust Steph in the field, she can take care of herself."

"Yes, she can," Natasha pressed. "None of us doubted it, and she definitely proved it this first time out. But it is normal to worry and to hesitate like that. And that hesitation could get either of you killed, not to mention the rest of us. It's the safer bet all around."

"What if one of them goes down?" Darcy asked quietly.

Much to my surprise, Bucky and Ranger both scoffed. Looking at each other, they said in unison, "then pity the enemy," and Bucky continued, "because ain't a single one of them getting out alive if that happens."

Steve and I looked at each other for a moment, after thinking it over a few times and contemplating the pros and cons, I finally nodded my head to him. So he turned to the rest of the team and said, "okay."

If there was one thing that hadn't changed in my life, it was the fact that Monday morning still came way too soon. Even when I'd been a bounty hunter and often worked weekends, there was just something about Monday. So when I had to drag myself out of bed Monday morning, I was not particularly happy about it. That is until I walked into the training room after my basic cardio and strength training warm up, and saw that Sif had a couple of tables setup up and filled with weapons off to one side.

When she'd offered weapons training as a reward on the day Jackie was in the Tower, I'd declined for two reasons. The first was because I wanted to give Woody and Jackie an opportunity to spend some one-on-one time together, and the shooting range seemed like a good way to accomplish that. The other had been that I really didn't have experience with any weapons of these types, and I didn't want my first attempts to be caught on camera. It turned out that was a good call because I certainly didn't pick up a sword and then instantly know what to do with it.

We spent the  _entire_  day Monday and Tuesday with weapons training. Sif had me only spending short periods of time with each weapon at once, rotating me through them for several iterations the first day, so that she could gauge which I was able to pick up more quickly and which were more of a struggle. On Wednesday morning, she told me that, while we would still train with all the weapons, she wanted me to pick my favorite with which I would begin intensive training.

At that point, I dragged the tables with the weapons into one of the smaller training rooms and then kicked everyone but Sif out and ordered privacy mode. I wanted to pick and have ample time to practice with just Sif before telling the others my choice. Mostly so that if I chose wrong initially, they wouldn't know. And also because some surprises were fun, especially when you were the one doing the surprising. I knew the others were making bets, but despite previous bad experience with wagers at my expense, I also understood the fun of the occasional friendly wager. So, that being said, the wager didn't revolve around assuming my incompetence, and it really didn't bother me.

"So, what is your selection, Lady Stephanie?" Sif asked. I managed to not roll my eyes at the name because Sif was trying, and had largely gotten better about it. But she still slipped up more often than not, especially when she felt a moment to be particularly momentous. Given her love of weapons, I was pretty sure that me choosing a specialty was a huge milestone for her.

Looking over to her, I said, "Heimdall didn't tell you?"

She smiled at me, in fondness that I'd figured out her game, "he told me what you were most likely to choose, and our king, the All-Father has, in fact, already begun the process of procuring everything needed to craft your most likely choice as a gift and designing it. However, there are other possibilities, and Heimdall did stress the fact that you must choose for yourself."

I walked around the tables, playfully making fake-out motions to various weapons to Sif's delight before my hands finally settled on my choice almost of their own volition. When I looked up, I took in the broad smile on Sif's face, which granted was an incredibly common sight, but told me nonetheless that I had chosen as had been expected.

"The long daggers," she said. "Yes, you are quite well suited to these and they to you as well. They complement your close range combat training that you already have and are most comfortable with. With your constantly improving speed and reflexes, you will be a most formidable ally with those in your hands."

"You're not upset that I didn't choose a sword and a shield like you?"

"Nay, Stephanie. A warrior's weapon must be the weapon that is right for that warrior, and I believe it is a mark of a good mentor that she can guide her student in all aspects of the subject she is brought to teach. If you had chosen a sword and shield because it is what I use, or because of your Steven's shield, it would not have been right for you. This would have indicated a failing on my part to properly instruct you in weaponry and would have taken you longer to adapt. An ill-suited weapon can be a death sentence in the end."

I nodded solemnly in agreement because that absolutely made sense to me. We trained hard that day and, having sworn JARVIS to secrecy, any break I took, I took in the room so that I could watch videos JARVIS had found for me demonstrating dual dagger combat techniques. At lunch, and when I needed food, Sif would gather food for us both and bring it back. That first night, I discovered that Thor had been summoned back to Asgard, but promised to return for Halloween celebrations as he'd yet to experience the holiday in all its glory and I'd given it such an enthusiastic description.

For the remainder of the week, I lived and breathed my dagger training with every waking moment. With my decision, betting had been closed, but I still refused to disclose my choice, telling them I'd let them know when I was ready for them to know, and not before then. Surprisingly, it was Steve who was the most understanding and didn't pressure me at all. When I questioned him about it, he said simply that it was up to me when they found out and a few days in either direction wouldn't really matter. Besides, he seemed confident that he knew what it was anyway and was going to win the bet.

When Friday came, and it was Halloween, I could hardly contain my excitement. Still, I made it through a very thorough day of training before calling it quits in time for Steve and I to get into costume. He hadn't cared at all what we were, so he hadn't asked. But I'd made sure to make him sit through Grease one night that week after training, so he'd understand the reference when it came down to it.

"Steph, these pants are rather tight." He called to me from the bedroom as I changed in the bathroom

"Trust me, Steve, they've got nothing on mine," I hollered back. Maybe two seconds later, he popped his head in the bathroom and I just had to laugh because he looked at me like an eager puppy looks at a bone.

"I'd like to rescind my complaint; I'll wear anything if it means you're wearing that."

"That's what I thought!" I exclaimed. Then I motioned for him to spin, and took advantage of the moment his back was to me to take a picture of his gorgeous ass encased in the tight black pants. Before he could say anything or take away my phone, I quickly sent the picture out to Facebook and Twitter accompanied simply with the word, "Mine!"

I'd temp-dyed Steve's hair before we dressed, and quickly styled it into the typical 50s hairstyle of one Danny Zuko before pulling on my Sandy wig and stepping into my red heels. We stood beside each other, and I hummed the song "You're the One That I Want" to myself before smiling at Steve and turning to walk out the door.

When we walked downstairs, Clint and Natasha, dressed as Neo and Trinity, smiled at us and Raggedy Ann Pepper said, "Grease. Danny and Sandy. Nice choice, Steph!"

When Sif, dressed as Xena at my insistence, didn't quite know what to make of the outfits, I had JARVIS play the closing scenes, singing along with "You're the One That I want" and clapping in delight when Darcy and Bucky popped up as "We Go Together" started dressed as Rizzo and Kenickie, sliding in on either side of us. The party was happening in the Tower's ballroom, so we thankfully didn't have far to go, just to the elevator, and across a lobby. Happily we walked into the party four across with Bucky and Darcy, and posed for the paparazzi together before splitting up to be photographed as couples as well.

I was disappointed that Thor hadn't arrived earlier in the day, but Jane insisted that she had an easy costume to throw over him whenever he arrived. She also reassured me, as did Sif, that Thor never went back on his word.

And of course, they were right, because we'd barely started in on the first course when Jane and Thor strode in, dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus. I couldn't help the smile that came across my face when I saw the perpetually jolly, perpetually smiling Thor dressed as Santa. Jane had even convinced him to put on a fake belly. It was still way more muscular than any Santa I'd seen before, but he did have a belly like a bowl full of jelly!

As we were wont to do, the team hung around for a couple hours, long enough to eat, be seen, have all the required photo ops, and put in what would be considered a good effort before we all snuck out and went back to the common floors to continue our party out from under the constant scrutiny.

While we were on the elevator, Sam started with, "Steph, come on, when are you going to tell us what your weapon is?"

"I don't know…" I trailed off, tapping my chin. "I was thinking maybe… tonight?!"

Everyone let out cheers, and Thor spoke up, "perhaps, Stephanie, you would allow me to do the honors by presenting my father's gift to you?"

My eyes got huge as I nodded my head in agreement. Stepping out into the common floor, we all agreed to quickly change and get comfortable before meeting back up. Giving Steve a kiss when we reached our floor, I dashed off in the direction of my rooms to shower and change before running downstairs. I was, predictably, the first one to arrive back in the common room, and I took the time to pull my wet hair back into a ponytail. Steve showed up a couple minutes later, looking appreciatively at my short Captain America boxers and black cami I was wearing. I was all nervous, bouncing energy, so Steve rubbed my shoulders as I waited, eyes fixed on the staircase, hardly acknowledging each teammate and friend as they joined us.

Finally, I could hear footsteps on the stairs and there was only one person left not waiting with me, so I knew it had to be Thor. As he reached the last step, Thor began speaking, "my presence was required on Asgard so that I could complete the forging of these for you. Once I had done so, the All-Father bestowed upon them a multitude of charms, several of which will allow them to behave in various manners similar to Mjolnir." He stopped in front of me and knelt, holding out a cloth bundle.

With shaking hands, I unwrapped the gift. They were sitting in sheaths in a harness, crossed over one another, with just their light blue handles sticking out. I quickly drew the blades, examining them with reverence. They were silver and had a slight curve to them, with cut-outs along the blades creating a surprisingly beautiful result. Upon closer inspection, they also seemed to have some sort of runes etched into the blades in a flowing pattern. Hefting them in my hands a few times, I quickly flipped one in the air, catching it in a backhand hold, and spinning and pausing with the blade mere millimeters from Steve's throat. And the man hadn't even flinched. That was trust. Smiling at him, I pulled the blade away, flipped the blade again, and posed with them crossed across my chest.

Everyone was watching, openly amused and awed by my new weapons. I pulled Thor down to give him a kiss on his cheek and simply whispering, "thank you."

"What're they made of?!" Tony asked, while reaching out for them, only to stop short of touching my new gifts when I growled at him.

"They are made of the same metal as Mjolnir, forged with the heat of my lightning and with the strikes of Mjolnir. And, as I said, they have been thoroughly enchanted by my father. They are  _almost_  worthy of being wielded in battle by Lady Stephanie. Almost. Though I can think of no other weapon more worthy. It will absorb, store, and amplify, your powers, Steph, and although the All-Father did not tell me of all the enchantments he bestowed upon them, I believe they will allow themselves to be summoned to you alone when you call to them. Heimdall told me I could inform you of this, but you must find out any additional enhancements on your own."

So saying, he took them across the room and set them down before indicating for everyone to take a step or two back. Everyone complied, except for Steve, who in another show of blind faith stayed where he was. I held out both my hands, looked over at Thor and Sif who nodded, and called out "Daggers!" in my mind. Immediately, the daggers unsheathed themselves and flew into my outstretched hands.

Grinning I looked up at Steve who said, "that'll be useful when you throw them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to those who continue to review and encourage me and this story. We've still got quite a ways to go! Last weekend was a very good writing weekend for me though, so I plan to bump up the posting to three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday). Hope you enjoy!


	27. Scandal and Spiders

_**Natasha's POV** _

Steph was getting much better at keeping her secrets. Over the first couple weeks of November, I continued to coach her here and there on her "blank face". Her weapons were frequent topics of conversation among the Merry Men, who were begging to be let in on the secret, but they couldn't figure it out. Steph seemed keen to keep it her secret to all outside of the Avengers until she was convinced that she had reached a level of mastery over their use that would allow her to bring them with her on missions. Similarly, she was still refusing to train with anyone other than Sif in their use.

It had been a little over three weeks at this point, since Steph, Sam, and Bucky had officially been announced as Avengers and Steph and Steve had outed their relationship. Somehow the media scrutiny and fan fervor hadn't died down at all during that time, if anything it seemed to still be amping up. And they were united in the fact that their biggest focus and obsession was without a doubt Steph, with the relationship between Steph and Steve being a close second.

Even I had to admit it was more intense than anything I'd realistically anticipated, but Steph still seemed to be holding up fairly well despite a less than friendly edge to a good portion of the attention she'd been receiving. Each team member was striving to find ways to make things easier for the new couple, which is how I found myself filling in for Steve on a morning talk show early on a Monday. Blissfully it was a short interview, slated to be 5 to 10 minutes long. I steered the conversation toward my expertise of global security for much of the time, discussing SHIELD's fall, the need for it to be rebuilt, and where Stark Industries and the Avengers could and should fall into the plan.

Still, even I couldn't side-step the conversation about Steph too much so when I was asked about her qualifications for being and Avenger and her relationship with Steve, I simply stated, "I have fought and trained with Hunter, and I can confidently tell you that she is a highly qualified member of the team. One who still has a few tricks up her sleeve that I think will surprise the world when they see her fight. I just don't understand everyone who wants to judge her without having met her and without having seen her fight. Sure, you've seen her injured, but that happened protecting children and in a manner that any one of us in her shoes would have suffered the same fate. Getting injured doesn't mean she's unqualified as some seem to be saying. In fact, she continued to fight quite well after sustaining that injury." I drew a deep breath and collected myself before continuing on that path and possibly giving away more than I intended. "As for Steph's personal relationship with Steve, it really isn't my place to comment. I will, however, reiterate what they themselves have repeatedly said. They are happy together- I have seen this with my own two eyes. No, their personal relationship does not interfere with team matters, and they have the support of the entire Avengers family behind them, both personally and professionally."

That was when they chose to drop the bomb of an alleged past lover of Steve's coming forward and giving out details of her time spent with Steve. As well as insinuating that she could pick up said relationship anytime she wanted and get Steve to leave Steph. On the outside, I made sure to continue to remain calm and keep the pleasant look on my face. Beneath the surface, on the other hand, I was absolutely raging as they announced that after the break, they'd be bringing out said former lover, a woman named Katherine. I took a moment to think and then calmly said, "This is the first I'm hearing of this, and I have no way of knowing whether or not she is telling the truth of her past association with Steve. He certainly has never mentioned her before. I can say, however, that Steph and Steve are very much in love, and no one will succeed in stepping between them. Frankly, knowing them both as well as I do, I pity the person who tries. Not only will he or she fail, but Steph and Steve are two people you really don't want to piss off. Now, that's all the time I have for today, thanks again for having me on your show!"

It made me really wish that I'd been interviewed second so I could use my interview time to refute whatever claims Katherine made and support Steph even more after whatever the hell this Katherine was going to say. At the same time, I also felt relief that Steve hadn't attended the interview, as they likely would have structured the day as an ambush, forcing Steve to respond on the spot likely with Katherine sitting there. Having finished my statement, I stood up, satisfied as they clumsily sent the show to commercial as I strode off the stage, keeping a smile pasted to my face and turning off my microphone as I went.

When a bright-eyed woman stepped in front of me as I made my exit, I honestly couldn't believe her stupidity.

"Hi, I'm Katherine!" she stuck out her hand with a bright smile on her face.

I quickly spun her around and flipped off her microphone before hissing in her ear, "look, lady. I don't know who you think I am, but I am definitely not your friend. Enjoy your ten minutes of fame, and know that regardless of whether or not Steve paid you any attention at any point in the past, he definitely won't give you the time of day after this. You're using him, and trying to hurt Steph in the process, two things he absolutely won't stand for. Neither will any of the Avengers. I suggest you don't attempt to step foot inside any Stark Industries building for the rest of your life." So saying, I let go and gave her a vicious smile that was really more a baring of my teeth. I wasn't the type to leave belongings in a dressing room or bring an entourage, which allowed me to walk away from Katherine and straight out of the studio.

I quickly wormed my way through the streets of Manhattan until I got back to the Tower. When I walked into the Common Room, Steph and Steve were sitting at the table eating breakfast with most of the team scattered around. At the sound of the elevator opening, they'd all turned to watch me enter the room.

"How'd it go?" Steve asked cautiously, no doubt correctly reading my mood.

"Name Katherine Higgins mean anything to you?"

"No," he said cautiously, sensing a trap.

"Well, she was the guest they promoed during my segment and who was getting ready to interview after me. Not very tall, blonde, oh and claims to be a former lover at yours with an open invitation to resume your relationship at any time and you'll leave Steph behind."

On my walk home, I'd envisioned a lot of ways that this news would be greeted, but Steph doubled over in delirious laughter wasn't one of them. Steve looked a little offended as he looked at Steph and said, "what's so funny. You know it is very possibly true!"

Darcy gasped and started striding toward Steve, who replayed the whole thing in his head and said, "not the leaving Steph bit! I'm just saying it is possible that I was with this woman at some point in the past. I would never cheat or leave Steph."

"I know," Steph responded, kissing Steve's cheek sweetly then patting it gently. "I'm just laughing about our first 'scandal' coming from your past, not mine. I owe Pepper a hundred bucks!"

Everyone was kind of gaping at Steph, and Steve just pulled her into his lap and wrapped himself around her. I could almost swear I heard him whisper, "mine," as he did so. Which seemed to be some kind of code for the two of them, so it was entirely possible.

When everyone continued to stare at Steph, she just shrugged and said, "I keep saying, Steve's a regular guy. He has a past, and so do I. His is just a little bit longer, tinged with sadness and grief, and contrary to the saintly way you all seemed to think of him, he was quite good at finding comfort for himself until he managed to break free from that grief. He's told me about it, and I don't hold it against him. Honestly though, I expected this would come up at some point."

"But you bet against this being the first scandal," Darcy asked.

"Yes, I expected that to be Dickie himself, or just the fact that Captain America was dating a divorcee. We generally have a bad reputation and aren't seen as the pinnacle of American ideals."

Steve started to protest, but Steph just patted his hand and said, "it's true. Divorce may be common these days, but it is still talked about in a judgmental way more often than not." She stood up and said, "now, I've just got to run down and talk to Pepper. She and I have a plan of action in place, so I'll be back in just a couple minutes!"

_**Steph's POV** _

I headed downstairs in the elevator, still chuckling to myself in amusement. I hadn't been kidding, I found the whole thing kind of funny. Well, annoying, but funny. Steve had fessed up to his past, so it was no surprise. Even when he couldn't confirm or deny based on a name, and I truthfully didn't hold it against him. Just before the elevator door opened, JARVIS came over the speaker and said to me, "I showed Mr. Rogers a picture and he says no. Flirted but he declined."

Even better, I thought, she'd be jealous because she'd been rejected. I walked to Pepper's office, peeking my head in when her secretary indicated that I could proceed. Pepper gestured for me to enter but remain quiet as she finished up her phone call.

"You already know," I said when she hung up.

"Yes, the station called for a comment while Natasha was still on set." Pepper leaned back in her chair and looked me over, "are you okay?"

"I was fine from the beginning, but Steve has confirmed that they never actually slept together so I'm even better now."

"I little bit of jealousy would be normal."

"I know, and there's a tiny, tiny bit of me that thought about getting riled up and turning a little green, but really there's no reason. Steve and I are solid." Pepper smiled at me, looking almost like a proud mama. "I owe you a hundred bucks."

"Yes, you do!"

"I know it isn't about the money, it's about the winning, so I'm sweetening the pot. You make this make as small of a splash as possible, and I'll turn your $100 into a brunch and full day of spa pampering on me."

Peppers eyes positively gleamed with excitement as she said, "deal! Anyone you'd particularly like to do the interview if it becomes necessary?"

I thought about it for just a moment too long because JARVIS interrupted with a beep and "Ms. Plum, you've been asked to Assemble."

Scrambling up, I called over my shoulder to Pepper, "Jackie!" As I quickly hurried to the elevator, which I noticed was waiting for me, doors open and a repeated "Avengers Assemble" alarm playing on loop and keeping people out of my way.

JARVIS had the elevator moving faster than I'd felt it move before and it opened directly to my floor. Without stopping to think about it, I ran into Steve's rooms. He was just pulling on his shield, and had already set out my uniform. Stopping briefly, he pressed a quick kiss to my lips before we saying, "see you upstairs."

I finagled myself into my uniform in record time, and without taking too long to think about it, grabbed my daggers and slid them onto my back. Grabbing my shoes and an elastic for my hair, I dashed up the stairs. When I stepped into the war room, I was the last to arrive there, and Steve nodded then started talking. I sat down in a chair and pulled on my boots, then started trying to pull my hair back.

While Steve was talking, he walked over to my weapons locker and started pulling out my uniform guns, checking that they were loaded and the safeties were on before sliding them and some extra magazines onto the table in front of me. I smiled up at him in gratitude and, tying off my ponytail, I grabbed the guns and ammunition and slid them into place.

When Steve paused for questions I said, "you're hazing me, right? There aren't really fucking huge, gamma irradiated spiders in Central Park attacking people? Right down the fucking street?"

"Not a fan of spiders?" Sam asked teasingly, and Ranger who was sitting at the Tower command center laughed loudly.

"I may have totaled a car because a crazy man put giant spiders in it." Looking at the live camera feed I said, "scratch that. At the time they seemed giant. Now, not so much."

Without too much more chit-chat we devised a plan. Steve and I took the elevator to the garage and climbed on a pair of bikes, racing in them to the near side of the park, while the others set out on the jet with Hal and Hill piloting for the far side of the park.

When we reached the garage, Tank was down there with both our motorcycles already running. We skipped the helmets, jumped on them, and sped out of the building. It was a pleasant revelation to exit and find that the crowds were sensibly staying back at the sound of the Avengers Assemble alarm, and I could see SI security trying to convince people to seek shelter indoors. I followed closely behind Steve, dodging around cars to make our way to the park entrance. As we reached the park, we slowed down, Steve going left and me going a short way to the right to my first spider.

It noticed me immediately, and I barely managed to hop off the bike before it attacked. It ended up biting the bike right where I had been sitting and I watched in horror as the bike began to disintegrate.

"Uhhh, everyone. Watch out for the fangs."

"There goes my plan," Tony snarked at me, "any reason in particular other than being pointy?"

"They appear to be filled with something like acid instead of venom."

"You alright, Hunter?" I heard Steve ask as I pulled one of my daggers off my back and launched it through the spider's head, silently calling it to return to me once it had cleared the spider.

"I'm good, but I'm sorry Cap, I owe you a bike."

I began looking around for another spider and noticed that several had been drawn to Steve. Running toward him, I watched as he took the first down squaring off on the remaining three. I waited until I was within a few yards and yelled, "down, Cap!" as I launched my daggers again.

Thankfully he hit the ground as my daggers stuck into their targets, the two outside spiders. On contact, I instinctively shot lightning at them both, and it created a beam between the two that caught the third in it. As that one exploded, I slid into Steve and we hunkered under his shield to keep potentially acidic spider guts from hitting us. Making sure that they were out away from Steve so he wouldn't get hit, I put my hands out and called my daggers to me, feeling much more comfortable with them back in my hands.

"You've been holding out on us. You're crazy good with those. We could have been training with you at least all week this week, I'm guessing."

I just laughed and we took off together toward the next location of screams we heard, moving together through the park, hardly needing to talk once we found our rhythm, and listening carefully to our teammates' chatter on the comms. As we got closer and closer to the center of the park, the spiders seemed to be increasing in number. Looking over my shoulder, I saw a man standing in some kind of plastic or glass-shielded circle feeding regular spiders through a machine that would pop them out at the other end in their disaster-causing giant size.

"Who is this guy, Evil Dr. Seuss?!" I yelled in exasperation.

Steve looked over and saw what I had seen and said, "can anyone tell how many he has left that he hasn't grown yet?"

Hal's voice came over the comm, "yeah, that's got to be hundreds. The cage is filled with them. You're going to want to take him out soon, rather than waiting until he runs out."

"Iron Man, Thor, Hunter, Clint- you got anything you can shoot at that machine and take it out."

All the others seemed to be pinned down with groups of civilians so I looked over at Steve and said, "toss me over there?"

"Come again?"

"Toss me, over there. I think if I get close, I might remember how to make that EMP happen. It should wipe out the machine. I and anyone else who is too close will be off comms until this is over then though."

"That's your best bet, it's going to take me a while to get there and they're going to keep coming until we shut off the machine, right?" Tony shouted over the sounds of his repulsers firing.

Looking at me and nodding in agreement, Steve held his hands out. I stepped on them and with a quick, "tuck and roll on the other end," he chucked me over the group of spiders that were coming out of the machine toward us. I landed inside of the glass-like fort the madman had constructed around himself to protect against his creation and rolled. I grabbed one of my daggers and stuck it into the ground to stop myself just short of slamming into the side of the machine.

"Thanks, Cap." I said before looking at the machine and letting out the pulse. As expected the machine stopped and I could no longer hear my teammates on the communicator. What I hadn't expected was for the man to drop exactly where he was like a stone in water. Walking over to him, I reached down to feel for a pulse. I let out a gasp when I realized he was cold, but then I got a look at him and realized it wasn't even a person. Shaking my head, I cuffed him with the pair of super magnetic cuffs just in case he had some sort of reboot ability then I looked around. The spiders were crawling out of the tank he'd had them in, and while they weren't nearly as freaky since they were normal sized, I still wasn't a fan.

I could see my teammates on the other side of the glass, still battling the enlarged spiders. First I tried punching the glass, but that didn't do anything more than hurt so much I was pretty sure I had broken my hand at least a little bit. Next I tried using a dagger, but had a similarly frustrating experience and I was wary of damaging them. I strode back, trying to decide if I could run at the wall and get myself over it when a rope hit me. Looking up, I saw Hal leaning out of the jet with its ramp open. Smiling up at him, I grabbed onto the rope, and let it lift me up and swing me over the glass. They dropped me next to Steve, and I took up the battle again.

It was at least another thirty minutes that we fought in the park together, slowly picking up more and more teammates before everyone was safe, the spiders were dead, and Bruce had de-Hulked. Hill landed the jet where we'd finished up, and brought out a set of clothes for Bruce, leaving Hal to look after the jet.

"So," Bucky said as we walked toward the now defunct machine, "you leave the guy alive for us to question? Though I'm guessing the answer will be that he's just fucked up in the head and thinks that spiders are fun."

I was rubbing my hand, and winced when I both felt and heard a couple of bones shift back into place on their own so that they could heal. Everyone just turned to me, and I indicated to the clear fortress in front of us. "I tried to punch my way out; it didn't work. And in answer to your question, Bucky, no, I didn't leave him alive to question because it turns out he was never alive to start with. I think Tony and Bruce will have to be the ones to 'question' him and hopefully I left them enough to work with."

"You mean he's?" Tony asked eagerly.

"Some sort of robot, yes, I think so."

Natasha and Steve were inspecting the smooth glass and then looked at each other then at me.

"We've got something else to train you on now. Gymnastics," Natasha said, pointing to herself. Then she pointed at Steve and said, "parkour. They'll work well together, and you shouldn't have gotten stuck by this glass."

Demonstrating, Steve jumped and swung his body over the wall with ease. Bucky and Natasha followed suit, and I just muttered about show-offs. Tony took the easy way and flew himself in. Together they poked and prodded at the body? Casing? Shell? Whatever it was, they poked at it for several minutes and when they seemed satisfied that it wasn't about to wake up and start causing problems, Tony picked it up and took it to the jet.

Steve, Bucky, Clint and I walked to the entrance Steve and I had come in earlier. We walked over to my bike first, and Clint let out a whistle. They circled it for a moment before Bucky and Clint started dragging it to the jet, and Steve and I climbed onto his bike to return to the Tower. As we pulled out of the park, we were greeted by cheers from a crowd that lined the blocks back to the Tower.


	28. Blowing Off Steam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What can I say... this chapter is just for fun.

_**Jackie's POV** _

When I'd first received the phone call from Pepper weeks ago, asking if I could fast track an Avengers episode of my show, I had agreed. Over the years, Pepper and I had become friends. It had started when, despite my desires to be on the comedy scene, I was an up-and-coming network reporter, being sent out to gather stories for the big names of the network and Pepper was Tony's PA. We'd met one day when I saw Tony doing something he shouldn't in a public place with an admittedly willing woman. I'd decided not to pass the story along. I hadn't said anything to Pepper, hadn't even been aware that she knew what I'd seen and spent her week waiting for the story to break.

When the story didn't break, Pepper called to express her appreciation and take me out to lunch on Mr. Stark's dime. While sitting at lunch, she'd slipped me a tidbit of information, and I'd been able to take that and create quite the scoop for my network. One day, years later, a different scoop she offered was so huge that the head of the network had called me in and asked me what I wanted. I told him that I wanted an late night talk show somewhere that I didn't have to worry about filtering or censoring my observations and sense of humor.

And so, I'd been sent to be an associate in another similar show and begin to grow a name for myself. Through some brilliant social networking, including some very fortuitous mentions on Tony Stark's social media pages, I'd found myself with my own show much more quickly than expected. I was the youngest name in the late night TV game, and one of only a couple females when I started. Currently, I was the only woman left in late night. I didn't have to do comprehensive news coverage and could instead focus each episode on even just one fact or event I wanted to cover. While not all the stories I ran about Tony Stark, Stark Industries, and their related endeavors were always positive, they were always fair. And the stories never interfered with my friendship with Pepper- that was a deal she and I made early in our relationship.

Still, beyond a couple interviews with Tony, I'd really only dealt with Pepper. So when she'd called about the Avengers, I'd obviously agreed to help my friend and her friends out. The coverage they had been receiving elsewhere was ridiculously judgmental and speculative, and I felt it only just that they get a chance to address what was being said about them. Really, I'd had no idea what to expect from them, personality-wise. I was more than a little intimidated, but I knew it was a story and experience I couldn't possibly turn down. I'd pleasantly discovered that they were all wonderfully amicable people, with good senses of humor to boot and with whom I could already feel myself becoming close.

And Steph had introduced me to Woody. That man was 6 foot something of pure deliciousness with a drawl that made me melt in all the best ways. Still, he'd lived in Trenton, and I lived in Manhattan, so we'd been taking things slowly. We'd had a lot of fun at the club the day we met, including a little making out, but that'd been it. When he'd come back into town indefinitely to help protect Steph, he'd called. We'd managed a couple dates, but we were both still wary, not knowing how much time we'd be able to spend together regularly going forward.

Then he'd called and sworn me to secrecy, and let me know he was moving to Manhattan permanently. So we'd begun an actual relationship. It was still difficult, we both worked odd and long hours. And it was a little tricky and awkward at times that I was now even more entrenched with the lives of residents of Avengers Tower. Steph was thrilled to find out about my growing relationship with Woody, and had invited me out on a couple girls' outings and set up a very entertaining double date for us and our men.

Going out on the town with Steve and Steph was crazy. When I went out, I might get recognized by an odd person here or there, but usually it didn't happen. And when it did, they thought it was neat, but didn't turn into crazy fans on me. Woody had been able to get the night off, obviously, but with Steve and Steph there, the double date involved being watched constantly by several of Woody's coworkers, who I found to be intimidating presences. They were friendly, sure, but they were also stand-offish and I knew I'd yet to gain their trust. Woody was their brother, and they were not trusting people, especially when it came to the well-being of their friend and brother. Still, I was grateful for their presence when Steve and Steph were predictably recognized and a human barrier was put up between us and a steadily growing crush of people.

Somewhere among the weeks of knowing them, I'd found myself telling my staff to call me if anything major came up regarding the Avengers. Anytime. It didn't matter if it was 3AM, I wanted to know. I liked the Avengers, and while I still wouldn't outright lie on air for them, I had much more leeway in Late Night, journalistically speaking. I was only half journalist, half comedienne/entertainer, and I was happy to help the Avengers spin anything and everything I reasonably could. And so, I was pulled out of my thoughts while I'd been trying to fall asleep by my phone ringing.

Apparently someone was trying to use Steve and Steph to get herself seen and make a name for herself. Unfortunately, she was succeeding, and that was going to make things difficult for the new couple. I hung up my phone and immediately started cursing, grabbing my clothes that were scattered around the room. Woody sat up from the bed and asked, "what's the matter, Jackie? This is usually where you work on shutting down your brain, and I get to hold you while you sleep until I have to get up and go to work."

He stood up, and grabbed a pair of pants for himself, and I allowed myself a moment to appreciate his physique before I said, "Somebody is screwing with Steve and Steph, and I need to figure out a plan of attack in case Pepper calls and they want my help!"

"What do you mean?" he practically growled in response. And upon reflection, that really had been careless wording on my part because I knew the man was extremely protective of Steph. I'd just finished explaining what was going on to him when my phone rang again. It was my assistant telling me to turn on any local channel, so I gestured to Woody to follow me and walked into my living room.

Muffling my phone, I whispered to him, "camera crews were outside the Tower hoping to get video and a response from Steve, likely when he left for his morning run, when an alarm started going off by the driveway. Security is pushing people back and trying to get them to go indoors, but there are cameras there and news copters in the sky." We settled into the couch, and turned on the TV. Just a minute or so later both of our jaws dropped as we saw Steve flying down the street outside the Tower on his motorcycle, shield on his back and Steph following right behind him on another bike. By the time they made it out of sight of the cameras on the street outside the Tower, they'd been picked up by the News helicopter cameras.

I hung up the phone because my assistant had no more information than what we were watching, and scooted closer to Woody. He put one arm around my shoulder, and his other hand reached across his lap to hold onto my hand.

"What's that on her back?" I asked in a small whisper.

Woody leaned forward, inspecting the image in front of him. "I think they're… swords or daggers?"

Woody's phone rang and he answered it on speakerphone, "Yo".

"Hey, Ranger."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at Jackie's place, and you're on speakerphone."

"Okay. You watching this?"

"Yeah, that bike is toast." Ranger chuckled in the background and after Steph threw a dagger at the spider, Woody continued, "so I guess she chose her weapon."

"Yep."

"Definitely not a good day to be a mutant spider," I said, not really listening to them or expecting a response to the observation.

Woody left the phone open and no one said anything for a few minutes. Finally Woody said, "so, Jackie was trying to devise a plan to handle that Katherine chick when this all started and we got side-tracked by the show they're all putting on out there."

"Oh, yeah. What'd you have in mind, Jackie?"

"Well, I was going to see if I could dig anything up on Katherine so I could hopefully discredit her. I was also going to start putting out feelers to the people who were going to be on my show today and tomorrow, and see who would be willing to reschedule without burning up too much goodwill if Pepper called asking me to set up an interview. This is good though, this makes a much better story."

"It's actually even better than you know. Steph hates spiders," Ranger said in amusement. "She's terrified of them."

"I can have some fun with that," I replied.

"We're recording this, obviously, and Tank is outside Jackie's apartment now in an SUV. Sorry to do this on you off hours, but Woody, I need you on crowd control to get the team back into the Tower safely. Jackie, Pepper says she'd love to have you here to watch with the rest of the friends in the meantime."

Woody looked at me and I nodded, so he said, "sure thing, Boss. Tell Tank we'll be down within five." I dashed around the room, trying to get dressed in actual clothes presentable for the public, and Woody stepped up behind me and slid his hands around my waist, "you don't have to come with me if you want to catch some sleep."

"I know, but they're my friends now too and I want to make sure they're all okay. And if they want to turn this into a distraction from the other story, I'll have plenty to do that will be more easily done from The Tower anyway," I reasoned, turning in his arms to give him a thorough kiss.

"Okay," he murmured against my mouth, "but I'm calling Pepper in the car and making sure she knows that you can go to my rooms and take a nap at some point if you want. And I'd definitely recommend that you try."

I scoffed, knowing he'd had barely any sleep himself, but finally nodded in agreement so that he'd know I appreciated the offer at the very least. Thankfully, I hadn't been back from work long, so my briefcase was already packed. Once I'd quickly dressed and grabbed a travel toiletry bag, we were out the door. True to his word, Woody called Pepper to square away my access to his rooms as a nap location or quiet place to work if I needed it. I, in turn, called up the driver service my studio paid for and informed them of my pickup address change for the day.

Upon our arrival to the Tower, Woody escorted me up to the Avengers floor and gave me a kiss before heading to the Global Security Command Center. I walked over to the couch and greeted Jane, Darcy, and Pepper taking the drink Pepper offered me. I almost spit out the first sip looking down in surprise when I realized the coffee had a healthy dose of Irish cream liqueur in it. Looking at Pepper in surprise, she wiggled her eyebrows, so I shrugged and took another sip. Why not? This was basically an after-work cocktail as far as I was concerned since I'd yet to go to sleep.

We exchanged greetings while staring fixedly at the screen, and settled in to watch the battle that was still reigning heavily.

"Thor and Sif look like they're having the time of their lives," I said in amusement.

"Hell yeah they are!" Darcy replied, "They love it when they get to fight animals, the bigger the better. Ask either of them about bilgesnipe sometime, and they'll happily regale you with tales of slaughtering those 'repulsive beasts'."

A few moments later, the news camera, which had been staying tight on the actions of the Avengers, panned out then over to some kind of bizarre machine. There was a man inside a tall glass fortress feeding tiny spiders into a machine which would then pop them out in their giant form. As the news anchors were quick to point out, he still had a lot of spiders left in the cage.

Jane was muttering to herself, trying to figure out exactly what the machine was doing, but she sighed and said, "They're going to have to shut that thing down fast. The rate he's been inputting spiders has definitely increased. I just hope they don't damage it irreparably." I widened my eyes and stared at her in disbelief, and she just shrugged. "I want to study it, you know, for science!"

"For science!" Darcy shouted and raised her glass before taking a big drink out of what I strongly suspected was a mimosa made of much more champagne than orange juice.

I noticed that the women seemed a little edgier than I would have expected given how well the fight was going, when it suddenly hit me. "If I wasn't here, you'd be listening to their comms, wouldn't you?" Pepper sighed but nodded, so I offered, "It's no big deal, I can go down to Woody's room. Or even back to my building."

When all the women reassured me that they wanted me there, I said, "Well, if this is going to become a regular thing, I suggest we put on our thinking hats, Pepper, and come up with some kind of official NDA that will allow me to still cover you all but also hang out here."

"I already got something in the works when you started seeing Woody more seriously. Our lawyers are taking a final pass at it, then they'll send it to yours."

Knowing it was better to let that kind of thing go through lawyers even when my instinct was to just have her send it to me, I nodded my agreement.

We all gasped watching Steve heave Steph into the "safe zone" next to the machine, and when she pulled out her dagger to keep herself from rolling and sliding too far and into the machine, Pepper simply put her head in her hands.

"Steve's not going to like that when he sees the replay," she said. After looking at me and getting my acknowledgement of being off the records, she called out, "JARVIS, when this is over, make sure the off-site training facility is ready to go whenever they want it starting this afternoon. I have a feeling they're going to want to practice some things in open space."

"Very good, Ms. Potts," he replied.

When Steph punched the glass to get out, we all winced as nothing happened except pain crossed her face. She tried again with her dagger, and Jane was yelling at her to send electricity through it, but clearly Steph couldn't hear her.

"JARVIS?" Darcy said.

I was pretty sure that if he could have sighed, JARVIS would have before saying, "I am unable to relay your suggestion to, or communicate in any way with, The Hunter at this time."

Thankfully the support jet and a rope got Steph back into the battle, and with no new spiders coming out, it wasn't all that much longer before the team had everything wrapped up. At that point, everyone seemed to relax, and Pepper replaced my finished Irish coffee with one of the mimosas and we all raised our glasses to the TV.

"When I am doing my show hungover tonight, Pepper, I am so blaming you."

The women snickered, and we watched the highlight reel that was playing on the news while offering our own color commentary now that we knew everyone was okay. In the corner of the screen, the station had a live video of Steve and Steph riding back to the tower, so we were all looking at the elevators eagerly when they walked in. Just from the way they moved, you could see that they were still more than a little on edge and filled with adrenaline as they exited, sweeping the room with their gazes. Steph was also relentlessly shivering and rubbing and scratching at her body. Upon seeing it was just the group of us women, they relaxed a little, and Steph fixed her gaze with mine, pointed at me, and said, "off the record."

I nodded eagerly in agreement, and gaped as she walked over to the bar, pulled a bottle of high-proof vodka out of the freezer section, grabbed a highball glass, filled it with vodka and chugged it. She looked over at the TV, showing one of the big spiders up close, and shook her head, scratching herself all over. Then she shook her head, muttered, "not good enough, I'm taking a shower."

Steve watched in amusement as she took the bottle of vodka with her and, drinking from it with one hand while scratching at herself with the other, quickly made her way upstairs. When she was out of sight, he held his finger up, waiting patiently for something apparently only he could hear. With a nod, he doubled over in laughter, holding onto his stomach.

_**Natasha's POV** _

We walked into the common room floor just in time to see Pepper smack a laughing Steve upside the head, which I hadn't seen her do before. One of other guys, sure, but I couldn't remember Steve ever earning her ire. Tony immediately called out, "not that I don't support it, but what'd Cap do to deserve that?"

Steve hadn't stopped laughing yet, and all the women were just glaring at him, looking sideways at each other, Hill and I shrugged our shoulders and added our glares to the mix. Solidarity. If Pepper smacked him, he deserved it.

"Where's Steph?" Bucky finally asked.

Tony was, of course, investigating the bar and said, "Where's the bottle of Spirytus Delikatesowy?"

Darcy's own mouth twitched as she said, "the answer to your questions are the same- in the shower. At least, she didn't look like she was giving up the bottle of vodka anytime soon, and she was itching like crazy, so I'm pretty sure she's in the shower with the vodka." Everyone looked mildly surprised, so Darcy elaborated, "apparently she REALLY doesn't like spiders."

Tony's eyebrow raised and he said, "uh, Cap. That stuff is almost 100% alcohol. It's more than twice as strong as what we had on Jackie over there's show the other night, and Steph did say she was a little tingly after that. I had it around to see if I could get you drunk on it sometime. Steph's smaller, less muscular than you, and while we know she has some sort of metabolic enhancement, her serum wasn't the same as yours and we haven't really tested her drinking limits yet… basically you may want to go make sure…"

He trailed off as Steve immediately stopped laughing and spun on his heel, dashing upstairs.

"How much did she drink?" Clint asked.

"Like it was water," Jackie said dryly. "Probably had at least half the bottle down before he got up there."

At that, Tony started fiddling around at the bar, "so what you're saying is she and all you ladies have a head start, and we all need to catch up?"

Hill started to protest and then just sighed when she saw the other four ladies nodding their heads enthusiastically. She reached over and grabbed Pepper's empty mimosa glass, poured herself some out of the pitcher and downed it saying, "debrief tomorrow?"

Huh, it seemed there really was a first for everything. Clint and I looked at each other and high fived while everyone else cheered. Tony started passing around drinks, and after ten minutes, Sif stood up saying she had something perfect for the occasion and went upstairs. A few minutes later, Sif was walking out of the elevator having changed and showered, carrying a barrel with a tap in it. Bucky got up and helped her settle it on the bar. We all quickly dispersed and returned clean, sans weapons, and wearing our comfies. Just as we were settling down and Sif was getting ready to open up her barrel of who knows what, Steph and Steve came back down the stairs.

Steph was leading the way dressed in a bright red racerback pajama shirt that said "Captain America" over a cartoon image of Steve's shield, and her shorts were white with tiny shields all over them. More surprising was Steve's white shirt that had a beautifully sketched picture of Steph's daggers sketched on the front of it that he was wearing with dark grey sweats.

"How many times have I told you? Please don't buy the knock-off stuff. You can have as much free merchandise as you want, just wear the official stuff! And there aren't any Hunter, Soldier, or Falcon merchandise yet- they'll come out by Black Friday for holiday shopping, but they aren't out yet, so that has to be knock-off!" Tony said with exasperation.

"I made it," Steve replied casually, "told her if she was going to wear my shield around because she thought it was funny then I was going to wear something representing her. I'll take the lot of it when the official merchandise comes out though, thanks for the offer."

Steph walked over to the bar and plunked the empty bottle of vodka down on the counter and, although both she and Steve looked more relaxed, I assumed that was the direct result of post-mission shower sex, she just said to Tony, "not good enough. Please tell me you have something stronger. There were SO MANY spiders."

"Uhhhhh, that was the best stuff I had. Do you really feel nothing?"

Steph shrugged, "a little, but it isn't enough. I still feel them crawling all over me."

I tilted my head to the side, "they were too big to crawl all over you."

She shuddered visibly and replied, "not the ones in that cage."

My lips twitched, but I couldn't laugh after giving Steve a hard time for doing so before, "so those are the ones you're freaked out about, not the ones that destroyed Steve's poor bike."

Steph groaned and put her head in her hands, "I'd managed to forget about the bike, and no. I feel the little ones all over me, but the big ones were bad too. They're all bad. Spiders bad."

Sif clapped her hands as she poured out the first mugful of whatever brew she had brought down. With a big smile she handed the first drink to Steph and said, "aren't the battles where we conquer our fears the most satisfying?"

"I can think of much more fun ways to be satisfied," Steph argued. She took a big sip of her drink, then smiled and took another. Nodding enthusiastically she said, "yes, this will work. What is this?"

"Asgardian mead," Thor said, "it is much stronger than any Midgardian brew I've come across, so I'd urge those who have not been enhanced to use caution while enjoying it."

Most of the humans took a small glass or begged off, but unable to resist, I took a mugful for myself and nursed it. Before long, we were sitting around laughing talking about the time we'd been on Jackie's show and the game of Never Have I Ever she'd had us play. When Bucky, Bruce, Steve, Thor, and Sif all said they'd never played before that day, Steph, Darcy, and Jackie all looked disgusted.

So then Steph, Darcy, and Jackie started trading off coming up with the names of drinking games, asking if we'd ever played them before. They had a brief conference among themselves and decided the one that they could easily find the materials for was Flip Cup. Fifteen minutes later, JARVIS had a couple of Tony's robots deliver a big bag of red SOLO cups and several folding tables. Supers and Asgardians were filling their cups with the Asgardian ale and the rest of us with beer. Jane took turns pairing off with Darcy, Jane, or Pepper to decrease all of their alcohol consumption.

We were all on our second round and loudly debating how to set up a tournament to figure out who was best when JARVIS pinged, turned down the party music, and we all turned to the elevators as one. Ranger, Tank, Hector, Hal, and Woody all walked out with blank faces on, though when Woody caught sight of Jackie he slipped for a fraction of a second and I could see his amusement. Silently, Ranger raised one eyebrow, and Pepper blurted out, "Steph started it!" then smacked a hand over her own mouth.

Ranger turned his eyebrow on Steph and she just glared at him and said, "so. many. spiders."

At that, Ranger barked out a laugh before shaking his head and taking in the scene again, "so… debrief tomorrow?" after a pause he said, "you guys realize it is like noon on a Monday, right?"

Clint stared at him defiantly and said, "so?"

That got Darcy snickering and before long we were all laughing. Woody was talking into his phone, and once he hung up, the entire group gave up and joined us in our laughter with Woody finally saying, "pizza will be up soon, now, I'm back off shift but only for a couple hours. So I can't join in, but it sounded like you need a judge and scorekeeper?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've posted another story over on FF.net that is a series of stand alone one shots that are set in a soulmate AUs. So it's Steph finding her soulmate or soulmates (romantic and/or platonic) amongst the Avengers (and other Marvel Cinematic Universe characters). It is called "Plum Soulmates". I'm having fun with it, and I can bring it over here if people want to see that-- just let me know.


	29. Another Interview and Christmas Eve

_**Steph's POV** _

Tuesday morning, I woke up cautiously peeling open an eye and taking a mental assessment of myself. With a sigh of relief, I sat up and saw Steve propped up on his elbow watching me curiously. While I wasn't normally a morning person, the lack of hangover had me jumping up and doing a celebratory dance with a lot of hip shaking as I sang out, "super serum is the best!"

"In that case, want to go for my run with me?"

"Sure, why not? The serum loves me, so I might as well love it back and give it some training. What time is it?"

At that, JARVIS turned up the lights and informed us that it was 5AM and of the weather forecast for the day. It was getting cold, but we tended not to feel it on our runs, so we went out in sweats and shirts. By the time we made it back, there was a huge crowd outside, screaming questions at us, largely about Katherine Higgins, and we had to carefully shove our way back inside. As we made it to the door, security was making its way out to assist us, just a few minutes too late.

"Crap." I said when the elevator doors closed behind us, and we leaned against the wall. "I forgot about that."

"I just thought it was too early for all of them," Steve said. "Hopefully the show tonight will help."

"Next time, just have JARVIS tell us when you're five minutes out," Ram reasoned. "How far did you run? I'm assuming we couldn't keep up with you, right?"

"26 miles in an hour," Steve replied.

"Mind if I ask, is that as fast as you can run, Steph? I notice Cap seemed as though he might be breathing a tiny bit harder when you got in, but you really weren't."

Steve studied me carefully, and I thought about it a bit.

"You know," Steve said, "we haven't really tested your speed since the day after you woke up. Think you can run faster?"

"I don't know; I think maybe. I really wasn't as tired as when we started running that far in the mornings a few weeks ago."

"Okay, tomorrow we'll test it out. Today we're going to debrief then see what we need to work on the most with whatever time we have remaining before the show, which won't be much."

"Daggers," I said eagerly, and Steve laughed.

"I don't know, you're pretty darn good with those already. But I'm sure you can have some playtime if you're good."

"How good?"

I used a husky tone, and before Steve could respond, Ram had his hands over his ears shouting, "please don't do that in front of me Steph."

When he pulled his hands off his ears, I said, "Dude, super hearing. Please don't yell in confined spaces if you don't have to!"

"Well, please don't flirt with your boy toy in front of me. It's gross."

I rolled my eyes, counting off on my fingers, "One, not a toy. Two, you guard us on dates all the time, you should be used to it. And most importantly, and trust me on this, he is definitely ALL man."

JARVIS fortuitously chose that moment to open the elevator doors to our floor, allowing Steve and I to step out and leave Ram to head back to his office, mumbling to himself unhappily.

"Steph, you're not sharing," Steve paused running his tongue over his teeth while clearly trying to pick his words carefully, "intimate details with your friends. Right?"

"With the guys? No." I was almost through the door and into the room before his hands grabbed me and spun me around.

He picked me up and dropped me onto the bed, following and pinning me down with my hands above my head in one of his and his other hand on my hip. He kicked off his shoes before leaning into me a little more.

"And the ladies?"

"Well, girls talk." I started, "surely you must know that."

I struggled a little under his grasp, testing to see if I could catch him by surprise and get loose. He held steady and said, "exactly what kind of talking do you do."

I managed to kick my shoes off, then my socks, and I hooked my legs around him, grinding up into him long enough to distract him and flip us. I wiggled my eyebrows at him from above and said, "just, you know, girl talk. Don't worry, you come out sounding very, very good in these conversations."

Feeling him hardening underneath me, I couldn't resist leaning back and grinding myself against him more.

Quick as a flash, he had us flipped back over and my clothes literally ripped off me.

"Do you tell them," he'd managed to pull back enough of his clothes to press into me as he continued, "how this feels? How well we fit together?"

His hips rolled, causing my clit to rub against him, and I whimpered out, "nnnnoo!"

His lips were running along my neck, and he stopped to leave a mark before running his mouth back up to my ear, "do you tell them about how you tighten around me when I mark you because you love it so much?" He was steadily keeping up a rhythm with his hips that he knew would drive me crazy but was slow enough to keep my orgasm out of reach.

"Nooooo," I cried out. He paused, waiting for me to give in and tell him, "I just tell them really generic things, like you're the best I've had, and we don't need much rest. Never any real details, I promise, even when they dish them out like crazy!"

With a loving smile, Steve resumed moving. "Why?"

"Because you're mine, and that's private." I paused to groan again then said, "don't want anyone else to know about what goes on between us."

Apparently satisfied, Steve sped up even more, letting go of my hands so he could have both free to run along my body. Within minutes I went over the edge and pulled him along with me. As we were coming back down, I noticed that Steve was holding me just a little tighter than usual, so I ran my hands up and down his back.

"What's wrong, Steve?"

He rolled over onto his back, taking me with him, so I used my hands resting on his chest to prop up my chin. "I just don't understand what is going through people's minds. The way they treat so-called celebrities these days is just crazy. I'm so very in love with you, it's like you're a piece of my soul. If it were at all possible, I'd keep you all to myself. To me it just isn't anyone's business any of the details of what goes on between us."

"Well, as far as girl talk is concerned, I only partake lightly, and for me it's about I don't know, just being reassured that I'm not alone and that there are women who understand me and I can go to when I need that connection. It is a different kind of closeness than you and I have, and I kind of need it. Really, I don't tell them anything important, I swear, just little things. And it is just the women who are part of our family here in the Towers."

"I know Steph, and I do trust you. And I want you to have that with them if that's something you need. Honestly, it isn't about you or what you said to Ram in the elevator, and I'm sorry I took it out on you."

"You know, if taking something out on me means I get orgasms, you really don't need to apologize."

"Steph."

"Steve," I paused and waited until he looked me in the eye. "Did that relieve some tension and make you feel better about today?"

"Yes."

"Then good! I'm happy I was able to help you feel better. For the record, even if you had slept with her, what Katherine is doing is outrageously tacky and most of the world knows it. And even if we somehow, due to some kind of insanity, didn't work out, I promise I would not do what she is doing right now to you."

"You think we're not going to work out?"

It just about killed me to hear him say that in a voice that sounded so much more vulnerable than I ever had heard before. "I really can't imagine ever not wanting to be with you, but I'm just saying if SOMEHOW the unthinkable happened, I wouldn't do go selling out your secrets to the highest bidder." Leaning up, I poured all my love into kissing him. Eventually I pulled back, "I love you with everything I am, and I want to be with you. Forever."

This time he was ever so gentle when he rolled me over and tenderly demonstrated his love for me, whispering softly that he wanted to be with me forever too. Afterward, we spent at least an hour just holding each other and taking some time for ourselves in a way we hadn't since those first couple of days together.

We were interrupted by Natasha walking in, causing us to scramble to sit up and cover ourselves with the sheet. Unsurprisingly, Natasha didn't seem at all concerned about our nudity.

"JARVIS!" I hissed out.

"I'm sorry Steph, she overrode my protocols."

Steve just calmly folded his hands in his lap and looked at Natasha expectantly. Natasha sat on the side of the bed next to me and watched us as she asked, "Ram told us what happened, are you guys alright?"

From the look on her face, which was uncharacteristically open for us to read, I could tell that she was asking about our emotional, rather than physical. She was also concerned about us as a couple, not just individuals. I smiled over at Steve before turning back to Natasha and saying, "we're great; we just needed some time."

Steve squeezed my hand with his and nodded in agreement.

"Good!" Natasha said with a smile of her own, "now, I really am sorry to interrupt, but we've given you about as much time as we can for today, but we really do need to debrief, and then there's the show to prepare for. Maybe you two can go away this weekend?"

"Hmmmmm, sounds a little like you're meddling again, Tash. I thought you'd stop that once I was dating someone," Steve rumbled out.

"Well, you thought wrong," Natasha replied with a smirk.

When she still didn't move to get up, I said, "why don't you go tell the others we'll be down shortly? Give us a minute to, you know, get ready in privacy."

When I glanced longingly at the shower, Steve said, "we should really go debrief first. You'll have to use some of your getting ready time for that shower."

I approached our second appearance on Jackie with fewer nerves than our first. We'd been on a couple missions, so I felt comfortable in my place on the team. In addition, ex-lovers be damned, My relationship with Steve was going really well.

I'd gone for a more comfortable look, knowing that this interview would probably be one in which my mannerisms were even more closely scrutinized. I had on a pair of comfortable grey jeans that fit like I'd had them for years and a simple halter top in dual shades of blue. It had a tie at the neck and the middle of the back, but was backless otherwise. My boots were kick-ass stilettos that had me eye-to-eye with Steve. Steve, in turn, was wearing jeans and his shirt was a white button-down the second time.

When we walked out onto the stage to the audience clapping, it was like an odd sort of calm came over me. All that we were doing was sitting down and having a conversation with our friend, Jackie. Sure, there were people watching, but it really wasn't any more difficult than that. And she knew the messages we wanted to get across and would help make sure we didn't flounder in our efforts.

During our strategy session, we'd agreed to get the whole Katherine situation over with quickly and early. Address it, then move on to the fight the day before and shift the focus away. To set the stage, Jackie asked Steve a bunch of questions about what it was like to sacrifice himself then wake up 70 years in the future. It was something he generally declined to comment on in interviews because it just wasn't a pleasant topic for him to remember and discuss. But she did a good job of guiding him in the right direction to have everyone understand his mindset. He admitted to readily welcoming distractions at night, and meeting Katherine, but was very clear that he at no point had any sort of relationship with her.

From there, Jackie asked us about our relationship. She put the statement Steve had posted about our relationship on the screen and read it to the audience, getting lots of "awwww"s from the audience as she did. When the cameras were back on us, she asked me, "so, things are pretty serious then?"

"Yes, absolutely. This guy is it for me," I said, nuzzling into Steve's side as he picked up my hand and kissed it. "We understand that about each other, and we're happy to be at the beginning of what we know is going to be a lasting relationship. I just wish that people could accept and embrace that, you know?"

"Well, I imagine that the more people see you together, the more they'll accept that fact. And we certainly do see you two together a lot."

She displayed a series of photos and clips of the media coverage of our relationship over the past three weeks. Then she passed the show off to a commercial break. For the rest of the show, she focused on the Avengers and our mission. There was some good-natured ribbing from both Jackie and Steve about my fear of spiders. She asked after the well being of everyone after the battle, and it felt like no time at all when we were on our way back to the Tower.

_**Steve's POV** _

The show served its purpose, and thankfully some of the media scrutiny died down in fervor over the next couple of weeks. And once Thanksgiving passed and the holiday season was well underway, the crowds of fans dwindled ever so slightly due to the chilly weather moving in and making it unpleasant for them to camp out waiting for us.

Thanksgiving had been a bit crazy with our Tower family, which had grown to include most of the former Rangemen and Jackie, had all celebrated together. Even though it was still pretty early in our relationship, I'd taken advantage of a moment alone with Steph's dad at the dinner we took him out to on the day after Thanksgiving to ask him for Steph's hand in marriage.

His gruff response of, "she's her own woman and she can do what she likes and make her own decisions," was betrayed by the tear I saw him blinking to keep back and the extra hard hug I received before we left.

After the insanity that was Thanksgiving, I had asked Steph to set aside Christmas Eve for just her and I. We'd told the team we would be unavailable, and spent a quiet day in my suite before going out to eat. Because we were both able to withstand the cold, but knowing the snow would soon come and keep us off the bike for at least a couple months, we'd decided to take the trip together in my motorcycle. Our flannel-lined jeans and nice thick coats, were doing their jobs admirably, so it was easy to convince Steph to go on a little joy ride with me after dinner. I hadn't really planned where I was going to take her, so I was a little surprised to find myself crossing the bridge and taking us to Liberty State Park. Really though it felt right.

We walked through the memorials for September 11 as well as World War II before finding ourselves on the lit walkway looking out over the river and the city that had become our home. After a couple minutes of comfortable silence, I glanced around to make sure we hadn't gathered too much of an audience. Then I thought about how we'd talked about just being ourselves and letting all the celebrity insanity happen around us however it would anyway. So I turned Steph to face me and held her hands in mine.

Clearing my throat, I said, "Steph, since the day we met, you became home to me. You are a strong, intelligent, amazing, beautiful woman and I'm honored to be able to love you and have you return that love." I felt Steph's hands start shaking a little and from the tears gathering in her eyes, I was pretty sure she knew what was coming. Still, with watery eyes, she gave me an encouraging smile that let me know I was going to get the answer I desired. Taking a deep breath, I pulled the ring that was in my inside jacket pocket out and started to get down on a knee when she stopped me.

"No kneeling. We're partners. Equals in all things," she sobbed out with emotions and love clogging her throat. So instead, I held the ring up between us, but she wasn't even looking at it, her eyes were just lost in mine. I took my time, soaking in the moment and committing every moment of it to memory.

When she started wiggling with anticipation, I smiled and said, "I love you more than I can find the words to properly explain to you right now. Stephanie, will you do me the honor or becoming my wife? Will you marry me?"

Then she was all movement, pulling my lips down to hers as she simply said, "yes." We kissed for several minutes before I became aware of the sound of whistles and applause around us. Still, when we pulled apart, I kept my attention on Steph and took her left hand in mine. I pulled the glove she was wearing off and then slid the ring onto her finger. This time she actually bothered to look at it and I had to laugh at the way her eyes bugged out of her head.

When she looked up at me in surprise I shrugged and said, "you can't wear it on missions, or while we're training, so I figured I'd better give you as much diamond as I could to make up for all those other times when you can't wear it!"

With a laugh, Steph responded, "I should probably tell you it is too much, but it is gorgeous so I'm just going to selfishly and gleefully accept."

I was glad she wasn't going to fight me on it because I wanted her to have it, and I had gone through quite a lot of effort to manage to go to multiple stores several times without being seen until I'd found the ring that absolutely called to me as hers. It was a 10 carat, oval cut diamond that was surrounded with small sapphires that also were also set into and went around the entire thin, platinum band. After I put the ring in her finger, I brought her hand up to my lips and pressed a kiss upon it. We both had huge smiles on our faces, and Steph's squeal of delight was too much for me to calmly handle. I laughed with joy and when she threw her hands around my neck, I held her up by the small of her back and twirled us around in a little circle.

Finally I set her back on her feet and pressed another long kiss to her lips. When we eventually pulled apart, she whispered, "let's go home and have a private celebration until well into the wee hours of Christmas morning. Our friends are going to go nuts tomorrow when they find out."

"That sounds great to me, I'll sneak a bottle of champagne out of the bar. JARVIS," I spoke quickly into the comms, "don't tell anyone, but Steph and I have some celebrating to do. Can you send some chilled champagne and some strawberries to my rooms?"

"Right away." He responded, leaving us to our privacy again.

Of course, as soon as we turned and looked up we realized we were very far from having anything approaching privacy. It wasn't too surprising as I had my shield and I'd made a bit of a spectacle of us. A crowd had gathered around us, cheering wildly. Even the paparazzi looked happy for once, and they clapped before calling out questions to us and resuming taking pictures.

As we walked back to my bike, Steph slid her glove on and I noticed one of the cameramen who was almost always on us and I knew for sure I'd seen at dinner. I approached him, and he paled and started backing up quickly, but I just held my hands out reassuringly and quickly said, "I'm not angry with you. You're doing your job and we're in a public place. You have every right to do this. I recognize you; what's your name?"

"Jim," he said slowly, as though he still wasn't sure we weren't going to cause him problems or hurt him.

"Hi Jim, I'm Steve and this is Steph. Like I said, I remember you. I've see you around all the time, it's nice to finally meet you. I appreciate the way you're always polite with us, and you don't resort to the tactics some of the others do." I was referring to the often unflattering things some of the paps would frequently yell to try to get a reaction out of us. This man didn't partake in that, just took the pictures he could while remaining a respectful distance away. "I saw you when we were at dinner, and I'm sorry you had to be out working instead of doing something else with your Christmas Eve. When did you get to the park? How much of that did you get?"

He looked over to the spot where I'd proposed and nervously responded, "all of it."

"Would you be willing to let me buy some of them from you? You can still sell them if you're freelance or turn them into your boss, I'm not trying to hinder your job or anything. I just think we'd like some copies for ourselves to remember the moment."

"Please," Steph said while smiling sweetly at him, "I'm sure you got some great ones."

Slowly he nodded his head and said, "yeah, sure. Let me take a look at what I've got, and I'll get some copies to you. On me. Goodness knows I make more than enough money off you both anyway, and you do good work protecting us all. You can call it a thank you slash engagement present."

His New York accent was thick and brought my Brooklyn out a little more than usual as Steph and I thanked him.

"Hey, just so you know, we're planning to just go back to the Tower. Follow if you want, but if you want to go home, you won't be missing anything," Steph said. Then with a smile she added, "Merry Christmas."

Putting my hand on the small of Steph's back, I guided her back to the bike and we both put on our helmets, climbed on, and waved to the crowd before we sped off.

When I parked at the Tower, it was a bit like a repeat of the end of our second date except with just the one bike. As soon as I could, I pulled Steph off the bike, and carried her into the elevator while kissing the hell out of her. Immediately, I pressed her up against the wall, and held her steady while I began peeling off our outer layers. Without a care, I left them behind as the elevator doors opened. Thankfully no one was waiting to ambush us in the lounge between our rooms this time, and we made it to mine uninterrupted.

A bottle of champagne, lots of strawberries, and several rounds of lovemaking later, we were curled up together, watching the sun come up over the city. I ran my hand up and down Steph's arm as she stared at the ring on her finger as I'd caught her doing a few times. Gently she turned in my arms so that she was facing me.

"When do you want to get married?"

"As soon as we can plan the wedding works for me."

"Hmmm, I suppose there really is no getting out of a big hoopla, is there?"

I winced and said apologetically, "not really. I mean, if you absolutely refuse, we might be able to pull a secret elopement off, I mean, we are friends with the world's best spies."

"But it wouldn't be a good move politically, and it is important for the team to have a lot of political goodwill."

I gently but thoroughly kissed her as I said, "if you can handle it, yes."

"I did the big wedding thing once, or well, I'm sure it will seem tiny in comparison, but I never thought I'd be willing to do it again. Until I met you, and now I honestly can't wait. I'm kinda okay with the whole world watching you promise to be mine."

"I'm okay with it too," I said quietly. "So then when?"

"As much as I want to be married to you, I'm not keen on running the risk of having a blizzard ruin everything. Or it being crazy hot out if there's a chance of any part of the festivities being outside. So I don't know, maybe April? We'll need a rain plan but that's fine."

"Sounds good to me. We can figure the rest out later, but I like knowing when you'll become Mrs. Rogers." I stopped when I realized how horribly presumptuous that was of me, I mean, the times were definitely changing as far as the idea of women taking men's names was concerned. "I mean, if you want to be. You don't have to! Or I could take your name!"

"Steven Grant Plum," Steph wrinkled her nose up before laughing and saying, "no that won't do. And I want to have the same last name as our kids, so Stephanie Michelle Rogers it is."

I went perfectly still and my mouth went completely dry as I asked, "kids? You'd be willing to have my kids?"

"I'd really, really like to at some point if that's okay with you. I mean, I know it is probably a security threat, and maybe you don't want that-"

I shut her up with a kiss before saying "I very much want that." Then I proceeded to demonstrate to her one way in which we could go about making them.

As we lay tangled up in each other an hour later, Steph panted out, "so that's a yes on kids then?"

I gathered her in my arms and stood up, walking to the shower as I said, "yes, please."

Partway through our shower, JARVIS interrupted as unobtrusively as possible and said, "it is 8:15, and Sir wishes me to inform you that you are late to Team Christmas."

"We'll be down in just a few minutes," I said shutting off the water. Then to Steph I said, "thanks for letting me have you all to myself for a day. Things are certainly going to be crazy for a while."

Steph nodded her head and said, "that's okay because I've got you as my partner. Also, let's just throw ourselves at Pepper's mercy."


	30. Team Christmas

_**Steph's POV** _

Per the team-wide dictate, I pulled on the pajamas I'd never gotten around to putting on the night before so we could go downstairs for Team Christmas. I couldn't remember the last time I'd pulled an all-nighter, but this time it was for the best of reasons and thanks to the serum I didn't feel the least bit tired. No sooner had I cleared the last step down to the common floor than Natasha had my left hand in hers inspecting my new bling.

"I'm so proud of you, Rogers." She said with a smirk.

"It's really not that hard to pick out a ring," Steve said awkwardly, flinching at the screams as the other women figured out what was going on.

"No, it isn't, especially when you're willing to throw that kind of cash around. The diamond speaks for itself and you don't need much else. Still, blue is both of your favorite color and it makes the sapphires a nice touch. What I was referring to, though, was your ability to buy a ring without tipping anyone off. And by that I mean me. I had no clue."

All the women were huddled around, and Darcy yelled out, "HOT DAMN, nice work, Cap!" Then she hugged me bouncing around and pulled Steve into it with us. That set off the hugs and celebrations.

Once things began to quiet down, Tony said, "okay. You're forgiven for being late for breakfast because we definitely can't blame you for celebrating. I assume you were celebrating?"

Yes, we'd been going on twelve straight, blissful hours of celebrating and I wouldn't mind still being upstairs celebrating. But I guessed celebrating with our family and spending Christmas with them was in too.

"Ouch, burn," said Sam and I realized I'd accidentally spoken out loud again. "You don't have to spend Christmas with us if you don't want to!"

"That's not what I meant! I just meant..."

"That she was enjoying celebrating with her new fiancé but is happy to be here with us now," said Maria diplomatically, and I smiled at her in appreciation.

"Let's eat breakfast," Bucky cut in, "and you can tell us all about whether or not I need to smack the punk here upside the head and make him do it right."

I laughed at that, but only said "he did good," until everyone had filled plates and sat down. Once I'd eaten a little and watched the women become even more impatient, I said, "we went out to an early dinner then we went on a bit of a ride. Steve pulled over at Liberty State Park, and we walked around for a while. Then while we were looking over at the city, he told me he loved me, pulled out the ring, and asked me to marry him."

Everyone started talking at once. The three I could make out were Tony, of course being snarky asking, "on one knee? Tell me you got Cap on his knees!"

Darcy was asking, "but what did he  _say_?!"

And Pepper had honed right in on the location saying, "Liberty State Park?! On Christmas Eve?! Please tell me you talked someone into letting you into the areas not open to the public? I don't want to have to call everyone in PR in on Christmas!"

Turning to each in turn I responded, "He tried to kneel, but I wouldn't let him. We're equals. Exactly what he said is between the two of us, suffice to say it was sweet and I agreed, obviously. And, yes Liberty State Park, no to the private area, but don't call people in. It's fine." When Pepper started walking over to the TV, Steve gently grabbed her and I said, "leave it be. It can sit a day without a statement or anything. We don't care. It's Christmas, and we want to celebrate with you all without worrying about what the world has to say for one day. Okay? Then we will throw ourselves at your mercy and dance through whatever hoops we need to dance through."

With a nod of agreement, Pepper returned to her seat. We spent the next hour leisurely eating our breakfast, and joking and laughing around. Of course, there were some questions about the wedding, but short of saying we planned to have it sometime in April, we didn't get into any real details yet. Mostly Steve and I just basked in the glow of our engagement and new commitment to spend our lives together knowing that this was the calm before the storm.

After exchanging gifts, for which we'd put a price limit, forcing everyone to be creative rather than exorbitant, Steve, Pepper, Sam, and Darcy started working together on what would be Christmas dinner, to which the Rangemen were also invited. Thinking I could offer to help, I walked into the kitchen. Steve looked over and raised an eyebrow then picked me up, threw me over his shoulder, and carried me back out to the living room. He dropped a kiss on my nose and said, "not that we don't appreciate the offer, but why don't you just relax out here?"

Fine, if they didn't want my help, it was no skin off my nose. He could cook me dinner anytime he wanted to and I just wouldn't lift a finger.

Natasha was splayed out on one of the couches, with her head in Clint's lap as she said, "From my understanding of your cooking skills, I honestly think we'd all prefer it that way, Steph."

"Fine! I'll just sit here and look pretty then."

"You do that so well, Steph!" Steve called out from the kitchen, and though I rolled my eyes, I couldn't help the pleased smile that came over my face.

"Disgusting," Bucky said.

"No, it's nice," Bruce said with a soft smile. "It's good to see some regular life going on with all the insanity we deal with in our day to day lives."

"It's a security nightmare, that's what it is," grumbled Clint just as the elevator doors were opening.

"What is?" Ranger asked.

"The wedding," Clint replied, causing Natasha to pinch him.

"What wedding?"

From the look in Jackie's eyes, I could tell she already knew what was going on, and Woody's smile said she had told him as well. Tank, Ram, Hector, Hal, and Cal all just looked as confused as Ranger, so they'd kept it to themselves.

I jumped up clapping my hands with excitement as I said, "my wedding!" Steve cleared his throat loudly in the kitchen, so I quickly corrected myself. "Our wedding! Sorry, Steve!"

I heard him laughing at something Sam said in response, but didn't quite make it out completely as I found myself in the middle of whatever the standing, hug-equivalent of a big dogpile was.

"When did this happen?" Hal asked eagerly.

"Last night at Liberty State Park," Jackie answered for me, giving me a quick hug then letting out a low whistle when she pulled up my hand to inspect the ring. "Surprisingly no one got a good shot of it, at least that has shown up yet on TV. They might be shopping around for a bigger price for that picture."

I put my hand carefully over her mouth and said, "Hi Jackie, Merry Christmas! We're having a TV and media free celebration day if that's alright with you."

When I pulled my hand away, Jackie gave me another hug and said, "yep, I can do that! But I do have one thing to give you really quickly. It seems you made a new friend last night, a man named Jim. He's a friend of mine, and called to see if I was going to be seeing you today. He gave me these, and as much as it killed me since I think I know what they are, I didn't open them. Says he labeled the ones you'll see elsewhere, but he held some back for you and offered his congratulations again."

Steve came out of the kitchen when he heard Jim's name, and looked at the flash drive in my hand. I looked down at it, then over at him, then back down at my hand. Laughing, he pulled it from my hand and said, "there's no news anchors or commentary, or anyone offering their opinions on the matter, so I vote it doesn't count."

"Who is Jim?" asked Thor. "I would like to meet him. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, particularly if news of his gift brings this much joy to your lives."

"I would like to meet him as well," added Sif.

"He's not a friend, friend." I explained, "he's one of the photographers that follows us around a lot of the time. Generally, he is nicer to us and less aggressive. It just so happened that he was assigned to us last night when we got recognized at dinner, and he followed us to the park. Apparently he got the whole proposal on camera, so we asked him if he wouldn't mind getting some of the pictures to us. I'm guessing he works with Jackie or her network, and figured that would be the easiest way to pass the photos to us."

Immediately Pepper and Darcy who had abandoned the kitchen as well focused on Steve's hands. "So, the whole thing is on there?" Darcy asked with barely contained excitement.

Steve pulled the drive back and said, "yeah, but maybe Steph and I want to go through it ourselves first."

Without making a sound, Natasha slid up behind Steve and grabbed the drive out of his hand when he made a move to try to take it back, she threw it over to Darcy who tossed it on to Pepper. Pepper ran over to one of the command consoles and quickly pulled the photos up on the screen. As she was running opening the folder, I noticed some were marked "sold" at the end of the timestamp file names and made a mental note to go back and check which of them they were later.

To start there were a few pictures of us on Steve's motorcycle outside the restaurant when we first arrived. Then there were more of us walking around in the park together, wrapped up in each other and clearly enjoying ourselves. When a picture came up of Steve standing next to the statue,  _Liberation_ , depicting an American WWII soldier carrying a holocaust survivor, it gave me chills. I knew that had been tough for him, so I stepped closer and gave his hand a squeeze. The next was of me running my fingers over the name of a friend of mine who was a rookie cop and died trying to save lives that day. This time it was Steve offering me a little comfort and he pulled me into his front and wrapped his arms around me.

As the pictures progressed and showed us walking away from the second monument, and back into the center of the park, you could almost see our moods lighten. At one point, there was a picture of me holding on to Steve's arm with my head tilted back and laughing at something he said. Steve was just watching me with a look full of love and wonder. The next frame seemed to be immediately after, and he had my hand, leading me up to the water. Everyone oohed and awwed over the next set of pictures, clearly showing Steve's proposal, my reaction when I saw what was going on, Steve's when I said yes, and our celebration afterward. There were even some reaction shots from the crowd around us.

I knew I'd be happy to have the pictures down the road, but they were so personal that it made me a little uncomfortable to watch everyone else looking at them. So I turned into Steve and rested my head on his chest.

"I love you," he whispered so quietly that no one else would be able to hear us. "I'm so lucky to have you."

"Me too," I whispered back, referring to both his statements as I nuzzled in a little further.

"Not to ruin the mood, or anything," Sam called from the kitchen, "but I could use a little help in here. Also, I expect to get to see all of those photos later!"

Steve gave me a kiss then wandered back into the kitchen, with Jackie following him since she'd already seen a lot of the pictures in the news and Darcy and Pepper wanted more time with them. With a sigh, I flopped onto the couch next to Bucky. As everyone continued to fuss over the pictures and fuss over which was their favorite, Bucky nudged my knee with his.

I looked over at him and he said quietly, "thanks for making him so happy."

_**Pepper's POV** _

The media storm post-engagement was even more intense than when the world had first found out about Stephanie and her relationship with Steve. Because of that, I was grateful that we'd managed to stretch our media-free Christmas for three days following until Monday morning. Or at least we'd done so for Steph and Steve, but as CEO of SI, a major stakeholder in the reputation of The Avengers, I'd kept an eye on it. And I knew Jackie had done so as well, even though her show was now off-air until February.

I had convinced them to allow a photographer to come in the day after Christmas and do a rush set of engagement photos so that we could have them available for the press release. Now that it was Monday morning, I was frantically working with the PR team to draft said statement for Steph and Steve's approval. At the same time, I was going through all the requests for comments and interviews that were flooding all of the communications channels into the Tower.

As much as it was a bit of an annoyance to be dealing with this at the same time as I was preparing end of year financials and slides for the January meeting with the Board of Directors and key shareholders, it was also tons of fun to watch the panic Steph and Steve's engagement had brought out in Tony. He and I had been engaged for almost a year, but we'd made no plans yet for a wedding. So this was of course, digging up speculation about when our wedding would be and causing Tony to feel pressured for us to move on that.

After all, as many people not so kindly pointed out, Steph and Steve were engaged after only knowing each other for few months, and Tony and I had been together for years now. Of course, Tony was too chicken to ask me about it, so he was doing a lot of squirming and fancy footing to try to dance around the topic with me. If he'd just ask, he'd find out that I was more than willing to stay engaged to him for many more years until he was ready to go the rest of the way to tie the knot.

I understood and respected our two friends' desire to get married, but I didn't have the same need within me. Truthfully, I'd been surprised when Tony had proposed. It wasn't something I'd felt I needed, but if Tony had wanted to take that step, I was willing to take it with him. Just as I was willing to wait for him to take the next. Even without it, I knew we were together and always would be.

Probably part of the difference between us and the other couple revolved around future goals. While Tony and I were pretty much already living the life we hoped to be living five, ten, even twenty years down the road, I had a feeling that Steve and Steph weren't yet. Tony had his research and experiments that were his baby, and I had a job I love with Stark Industries, including the Avengers, as my babies. For me that was satisfying enough, and there wasn't anything more I wanted out of life than to have Tony by my side.

For Steph and her previous commitment issues, I had a feeling that she really needed the reassurance of formally having Steve as her husband. And Steve, aside from his more traditional life values, was needing to make sure he didn't miss out on having the life he'd always dreamed of a second time around. Additionally, I suspected that it wouldn't be long before Steve and Steph were adding some Little Avengers in Training to the team and our Tower. And it may not be the primary reason they were getting married, but I was fairly certain neither of them would be willing to do so outside of marriage, no matter how acceptable that was becoming these days. With that as their ultimate goal, marriage made sense for them.

If Tony asked, I'd explain all that to him. And even if he didn't ask, I'd probably cut him some slack and let him in on it soon. In the meantime, it sure was fun to watch him squirm. And as often was the case, my day could use an injection of fun. Still, we had the statement written and distributed through every mode of media available to us along with several of the best of engagement photos. By the time the day was over, I was satisfied with what I'd managed to get done today and eternally grateful, as always, for my assistant who hadn't balked at having me call her in despite her originally having the week between Christmas and New Year's off.

Wishing her a good night, and grabbing the stack of magazines she'd picked up for me. Walking in to the Common Room, upstairs, I stopped to give Tony a kiss then continued over to where Steph was sitting on Steve's lap in an armchair and dropped the stack of magazines in her lap. She let out an oomf of surprise and looked down at the magazines in her lap then up at me with a puppy-dog eyes.

"Nope," I said, "You got four whole days to celebrate and pretend the real world wasn't out there pretty much wetting their pants with excitement over your wedding. Now you need to face reality and get to work. If you're serious about getting married in April, that doesn't leave you much time. We'll need to get started immediately, and your dress is number one priority. You have appointments all day Wednesday with Vera Wang, Marchesa, and Jenny Packham who are all interested in designing your dress. I suggest you take some time tonight and tomorrow to think about the type of dress you want. After you meet with them, assuming one of them has a design you want, we'll cross that off the list and move on."

It shouldn't really have surprised me when it was Steve who moved first picking up one of the magazines and starting to flip through it.

"I don't know, I mean, I know it's going to have to be a big fancy wedding, and I'm okay with that, but it is my second wedding. I can't exactly wear a big white dress, right?"

"Nah," Darcy said, "that's old news. You can wear whatever you want, including a big white dress, no matter what number wedding it is. You could wear a short red dress if you wanted to."

"I wouldn't go that far," I said, worried that she was giving Steph ideas.

Steph just rolled her eyes and said, "I'm not wearing a club dress, don't worry, Pepper. If it's not going to get me in trouble, I'd kind of like to wear my dream wedding dress this time, once I figure out what it is."

"What'd you wear last time if it was a big dress but from the sound of it, you didn't like it?" asked Sam.

"My mom picked out my dress. She picked out everything really, and I hated pretty much every decision she made. It was all big and poofy and tackily showy."

"Alright, well that settles it," Natasha said, "you get the dream dress this time, and the dream wedding to your dream guy, which will make up for having to have way more people there than you probably actually want and all the security concessions you'll be making."

Steve whispered something in her ear that I couldn't hear, but Steph smiled and picked up the magazine on the top of her stack and started flipping through it.

"Now, as far as location is concerned. Are either of you set on getting married in a church?"

Steve shook his head, and Steph said, "I'd probably prefer not, actually."

"Okay, great. I did a little initial investigating, and you certainly don't have to do anything I've come up with here, but I thought you might like the idea of having the ceremony outdoors?"

The couple looked at each other and nodded, and I let out a breath. "Normally, Central Park has a limit of 300 guests, but there's lots of space, and I'm sure we can get them to make an exception for two Avengers. If you'd be interested, that is. And then, the one I'm really excited about, is there's this building in Brooklyn. It's called the 1896, and it is mostly used for photography and filming. You could rent out the whole place, and it is basically a big, empty shell that we could transform into whatever you want."


	31. A Wrinkle

_**Steve's POV** _

Steph and I went most places together because we liked spending our time together and wanted to do so as much as possible. That isn't to say that we didn't also go places alone and spend time with other people, just that our preference when possible was to spend our time together. There were some side benefits of that as well. The media and fan excitement still hadn't died down even though we were now ten days into January, so we usually had backup when we went out, and only requiring one team instead of two made things a lot easier. Additionally, it made said fans happy to see us together, and as long as we appeared upbeat, it tended to stave off the stupid breakup rumor articles.

Some errands, however, we couldn't or didn't want to do together, and Steph going for her first dress fitting was one of those. She'd seemed surprised to already be having a fitting, but apparently it was more to verify measurements and the like than her dress actually being anywhere close to done. While Steph didn't seem overly superstitious about the various wedding traditions, citing the fact that she'd adhered to them all before and it hadn't brought her any luck, she flat out refused to tell me anything about her dress other than it was a shade of white and it was formal. "Fit for a queen," she'd called it at some point. And that was fine with me.

So, while she was out for her first fitting with the ladies, the men and I took first crack at picking out some tuxedos to wear. After only a small amount of deliberation, we'd decided to make the Avengers Floor residents all our attendants. So Steph would have Pepper, Jane, Darcy, Hill, and Natasha with her, and I would have Tony, Thor, Bruce, Clint, Sam, and Bucky standing with me. Originally Steph had hoped to also have Sif standing with her, but Sif had been called back to Asgard and it was unclear whether or not she would be allowed to return for the wedding. An attendants dress was being made just in case. Not wanting to choose favorites, we'd decided to forgo a Best Man and Maid of Honor, however, the groups seemed to have chosen Bucky and Natasha as their leaders themselves. Which was helpful in that while planning various events and outings, they could simultaneously make the security arrangements.

Pepper seemed to have designated herself wedding planner, and we both felt horribly guilty about that fact because it wasn't like she didn't have plenty to do otherwise. However, Darcy seemed to have talked her scientists into not needing her for more than a couple hours a day, and was using the bulk of her time to assist Pepper with the wedding. Now when I was out and people asked me what had changed the most between my childhood and the future I woke up in, I'd answer "the wedding industry". Usually they laughed, but I was completely serious. I understood that we were an exception to the norm with our wedding guest list likely including heads of state and a whole lot of A-list celebrities not to mention the media we wanted to play nice with. But as we'd been combing through books, magazines, TV shows, and websites trying to make decisions, it became clear that our wedding, while larger in scale, was not going to be outrageously outside the norm in what it contained. I just tried to ignore the noise and focus on Steph. Sure, I felt a little like a dancing monkey performing tricks again, but it would be over soon and Steph and I could start our lives together as husband and wife.

No matter how hard I tried to let it all just float on past me, some parts were still intimidating and more than a little overwhelming. Which is why when the tailor started bombarding me with questions, I didn't know the answers to, I felt what I would absolutely deny was panic begin to rise. Finally I lifted my hand to get him to stop talking to me then looked at the men gathered around me. Tony would no doubt choose something completely and unnecessarily ostentatious if allowed to make the decision. Bucky had always been stylish way back when, but I knew he hadn't quite caught up yet, especially where things like formal attire were concerned. Not to mention that his eyes were clearly shouting at me that if I threw him to the wolves on this, it would be the last thing I did. Bruce looked just as uncertain as I felt, and Thor was out due to the whole ostentatious thing as well, though at least he had being an alien as an excuse for that. Lastly, my eyes settled on Sam who met my gaze confidently. I raised a brow in question and he gave me a slight nod, so I smiled and clapped him on the back. I gestured him to the tailor and said, "black with silver," before leaving them to hammer out the specifics of all of that.

Walking around the store, I amused myself looking at the various items that were on display around the shop. When I noticed a little gift section that seemed directed at grooms who wanted to buy something for their bride, I studied the options in front of me. Stephanie and I were both used to not really having any disposable income, and we found ourselves not really spending our money. Sure, her ring had cost a pretty penny, though if you'd gone by the rule that I was supposed to spend two to three times my monthly salary on it, it wasn't nearly expensive enough. Beyond the ring though, I hadn't really spent much of the money I'd been making, and Steph really didn't spend much of hers other than ignoring my objections and replacing the bike that had been destroyed by the giant spiders.

It sounded to me like Sam's conversation with the tailor was winding down, so I knew I'd need to make a selection quickly if I was going to make one. Unfortunately, I didn't get the opportunity to do so before Bucky and Tony were eyeing me warily and dragging me out of the building toward Happy and the limo. Bucky, Sam, Bruce, Clint, and Thor got into the limo, but Tony grabbed his suit briefcase out of the car, put it on, and without a word grabbed and and took off for the Tower. When we landed on the landing pad, I started to ask what the hell was going on, when I saw Natasha standing there in full Black Widow gear. She had more than a few bruises on her and blood trailing down her forehead from her hairline. My heart stopped when I saw the rest of the women in the inside lobby except Steph, and they looked anywhere from just as bad as Natasha to twice as bad. But Steph wasn't there.

Without a word, I strode forward and said, "she's not suiting up, is she?"

"No, Cap," was the soft response I received.

"Is she alive?" my voice cracked as I asked, terrified of what the answer would be.

"Yes, Captain," JARVIS replied. "She has not been able to communicate with me, however her vitals are strong, and I am tracking her location."

I let out a sigh of relief then asked Natasha, "are you okay?"

She looked surprised that I'd bothered to ask, but I waited for her nod before walking inside and asking each of the women in turn the same question. Once I'd ascertained that they were alright and didn't seem to need medical assistance, I got in the elevator and stopped in my room long enough to change before going to the war room. When I stepped inside, it was filled with Ranger and his men who stopped whatever they were doing and looked up at me warily. I observed all the screens of information around me, beginning to form an idea of what had happened. It seemed like YEARS had passed before the rest of the team joined us, in full uniform and I turned my attention to Natasha and Hill.

"What happened?"

_**Steph's POV** _

I woke up feeling very, very fuzzy and out of sorts. It was dark, I was pretty sure I was moving, and my wrists were tied together with what felt like Flexicuffs. I wiggled around a little and discovered my ankles were cuffed as well, and the two sets of cuffs appeared to be tied together behind my back which had me stuck in a highly uncomfortable position.

What was the last thing I remembered? I'd been at a dress fitting in a design studio in Manhattan. Vera Wang had been there, and I had the foundation garments that I was going to wear under my dress on, and a muslin mock-up dress on. Because it was inexpensive material, when I'd needed a bathroom break, I'd been allowed to go alone to the bathroom in the back of the studio. The women had been busy trying on the mock-ups of their dresses as well, and Natasha and I had already cleared the studio when we entered, so I wasn't too concerned. As I was finishing up doing my business, my spidey-senses had gone off, but before I could call out to Natasha or JARVIS, I'd heard the beginnings of an explosion behind me and then everything had gone dark.

Given how much my head hurt and felt slightly sticky, I was going to guess that I'd taken a blow to the head. They must have taken down the exterior wall at the back of the bathroom and grabbed me. Having seen some of the technology that JARVIS and Tony were capable of which could almost render walls of buildings useless and create a very good picture of what was going on inside just using sound waves, it was easy to believe that they'd waited until I was isolated to strike. After all, if they could hear our conversation, they'd have known I was the one going alone. Not to mention if they were able to create any type of picture, I'd have been easy to pick out with all the extra fabric around me.

Continuing to do a mental self assessment, I realized that I was in trouble. I was bleeding, heavily from the abdomen. It felt like I had been stabbed deeply and repeatedly, and I wondered why in the world the people who kidnapped me seemed to like stabbing me these days. From what I could feel and smell, I was still bleeding a lot, which probably either explained or was caused by the continued fuzziness. Was it possible that after the blast knocked me out, my kidnappers had somehow taken away my powers? Or my ability to heal?

Trying to stay quiet, I rolled around a little and decided I was either in the trunk of some sort of vehicle or I was inside some kind of box inside of a car or other moving vehicle. Either way, it was bringing back memories of previous kidnappings and I wanted out. I'd also been able to hit all the boundaries of whatever container I was confined in, so I knew I was alone in here. The fact that whoever had attacked had waited to strike until I was alone gave me hope that they had left the other women behind. Regardless, I knew the chances of me getting out of the situation were much better if I could retaliate while we were in transit than if I waited until we got to our destination and our kidnappers were on home turf, so to speak or if I continued to bleed out in that time. Then I remembered. JARVIS.

"JARVIS?" I whispered out as quietly as I could, relieved when I got a response from my favorite AI.

"Hunter, what's your status?"

"Tied up, confined in some sort of trunk or container, and we're moving. Are the other women safe?"

"Everyone else is accounted for. The Avengers have assembled and are getting ready to board the jet. They will follow you in stealth mode and stage a rescue once you've stopped moving, they have a fix on your location and have developed a plan."

"Where am I currently?"

"There was some delay in your status being reported due to what the Black Widow refers to as 'liberal use of knockout gas' at the studio. It appears that you have steadily been traveling north for several hours now. You appear to be in a rural area of upstate New York, possible destination Canada. If you'll just remain calm, I'll relay your well being to the team, and they'll collect you as soon as possible."

Taking a deep breath, I pulled my wrists apart, relieved when the bonds tying them together ripped apart. I did the same with my ankles and said, "if I'm the only hostage here, then I don't have to worry about hurting any of them. I'm bleeding heavily and I don't think more passing time is a good thing. Give them my present location for a pick-up, I'm not waiting to see what my captors have planned, JARVIS, and you're about to be offline."

So saying, I let out an EMP as well as a bunch of lightning branching in all directions around me. I was ecstatic, with only a hint of, "maybe I should have thought this through more" when I heard the sound of squealing tires and felt the vehicle I was in go airborne. There was a lot of crashing around me, and I slammed around my confines before stopping. I'd been calling my daggers to me the whole time, and felt them growing closer. They tore through metal and wound up in my hands. I could see sunlight, so I used them to rip apart the metal a little more before carefully peeling it back with my hands. I dragged myself out of the wreckage and took in my surroundings. Indeed I had been in the trunk of a sedan, which it appeared had been part of a three vehicle convoy. All three vehicles had been hit by the EMP, and they were no longer operational. Everyone else in the sedan had been struck by my lightning, and were at the very least unconscious but were probably dead given the car had flipped several times and it didn't appear any of them had worn their seatbelts.

Men slowly poured out of the two SUVs, and rather than firing the weapons they had drawn were approaching in an attempt to subdue me. Clearly they had orders to bring me in alive, and I was not operating under the same set of rules. It also seemed that they thought in my weakened form that I really wouldn't be a threat to them. As they started coming toward me, I started hitting them with lightning watching in satisfaction as they fell one at a time. Knowing that being out in the open might not be my best bet, I spent the next few minutes pulling myself across the ground and into the woods off to the side of the road.

When I made it to the side of the road, I rested against a tree with both daggers held at my side, waiting to see if anyone was getting back up or if there was a continued threat. That was when the Quinjet materialized above me, and Steve and Bucky jumped down landing on the road in crouches to absorb the impact. Slowly they stood, Steve and Bucky taking in the destruction around them and looking for me. I called out to Steve quietly, and his head whipped around and he broke into a run when he saw me.

"You know, Hunter," Bucky said carefully as he approached, not wanting to startle Steve who seemed more than a little spooked, "it would have been good to be able to talk to at least one of these guys."

"I was feeling threatened," I said with a shrug, "and they definitely started it. But I'm sorry, when it is eight against one, they have guns, and I'm bleeding like a stuck pig, I think it counts as self defense."

Hill had managed to land the jet off to the side, and the rest of the team joined us. Bruce had a medical bag and was pulling items out while the others were wandering around and inspecting the area for evidence. Steve pulled me into him gently for a hug and didn't seem to be interested in letting up anytime soon. Which was okay with me except for the fact that I had my daggers in my hands and nowhere to put them, so instead of hugging him back, I had to keep them down at my sides. Also, it hurt a bit, though really I thought idly I should be much more concerned about the fact that it didn't hurt a lot.

When the sound of approaching vehicles registered, Steve put himself and his shield between me and the noise. That was completely okay with me because I didn't really feel like I had any fight left in me. Thankfully, it was Phil Coulson who stepped out of the first SUV. After looking around, he barked out a string of orders that I really couldn't focus on those types of details.

"Shouldn't I be healing?" I asked Steve quietly.

Bruce had donned gloves and Jemma Simmons from Coulson's team had done the same as she approached.

"Are you injured anywhere else?" Bruce asked eagerly. "Steve, Jemma and I need a little room to work here."

Steve gently scooted back, and looked down at the daggers in my hands. "Steph, let me take those for you for a few minutes? The team is all here, we'll protect you."

Reluctantly, I released my grip on them, allowing Steve to take them as I let Bruce know about my head. Natasha materialized next to Steve with my sheath and harness and I watched as he gently placed my daggers in it.

Natasha squatted down next to me, leaving plenty of room for Jemma and Bruce's work. She waited until my unfocused gaze hit hers to say, "I'm sorry, Steph."

"Nat, we both cleared the place, and there was no intel to suggest we were at an increased risk of an attack. And apparently there was knockout gas?" At Nat's nod acknowledging that there had indeed been knockout gas, "everyone else okay? Including Vera and her staff?"

"Yes, but I think the next fitting will be in the Tower."

"She's still going to make my dress?"

"Pepper promised her combat pay if she stuck with it."

I tried to laugh but quickly realized it made things much more painful and let out a hiss. Everyone focused in on Bruce and Jemma, just in time to hear Jemma whisper something about a specialist.

"Excuse me, what?"

"Steph," Jemma said eagerly, "I think your body is basically spending most of its healing power to deal with the head injury, which means that it is providing fewer resources to the stab wounds as they're non-fatal and lower in priority."

"Okay, well non-fatal is good, right?"

"I'd like to move you to our headquarters which is nearby and bring in a specialist quickly as I'm worried about the uh, location of the wounds."

"Why?"

Steve must have seen something in her eyes because he just smoothed my hair and pressed a kiss to it before saying, "let's get you off the ground and we can talk about this once you're at HQ, more comfortable, and we have some privacy, okay?"

Once we'd made it to "The Playground" as the headquarters were apparently called, Jemma and Bruce settled me in one of the medical rooms, and Bruce stepped out leaving Steve and I alone with Jemma.

"Okay, Jemma. What's wrong?"

"I'm concerned about the likelihood of permanent damage that is going to leave you infertile. Specifically, if you've suffered injury to your ovaries or Fallopian tubes, or both, which, given the location of your wounds so low on the abdomen, seems likely."

"And you don't think the serum will fix it?"

"I think the serum will keep you alive, but I don't see any reason for it to preserve your fertility. You don't need that for battle, like you do your mind."

I sat there trying to take in the information, and heard Steve whisper his thanks and ask her to arrange to bring in a specialist. As though he knew I just needed time to process, Steve sat quietly next to me, holding my hand while we waited. When the physical pain of healing got too intense, he used acupressure to help ease it, and when the emotional possibility of what Jemma had told us got too much, he held me close and whispered words of comfort in my ear.

Over the next day, I saw several specialists all of whom, after both internal and external exams, agreed with Jemma's assessment. There was extensive damage done to my reproductive organs, and the serum didn't seem to be repairing them, just the exposed parts of the wounds. It was unlikely I'd ever conceive, let alone carry a pregnancy, and despite the fact that I still had viable eggs, they probably would no longer be released. I would almost certainly be sent into early menopause.

It took most of that first day for my head to fully heal and not feel like it was going to explode at any moment. Once it had, the other injuries quickly began to fade. As they did, and each doctor confirmed what the previous had said, the reality began to hit me even harder. So, when Steve and I finally got upstairs to my rooms, I sat him down to talk.

For a full minute, I just fiddled with the gorgeous ring on my finger before I finally had the courage to pull it off and hold it out to him. I cleared my throat and said, "I know you want a family, and it seems I can't give it to you anymore. I'm broken. If you want out..."

The rest of my sentence was cut off by a kiss from one very angry super soldier. Steve wasn't tender or gentle like he almost always was when he kissed me. This was a raw, emotional kiss meant to reinforce a claim on me. Over the course of the first few seconds, I thought about fighting it, but I loved this man, and if he still wanted me, then I'd happily be his. As I slowly relaxed under his onslaught, he slowly gentled the kiss. Eventually, he pulled back and cupped my face with hands on either side of it.

"Steph, you're still here, and you're not broken. You heard the doctor, we'll have options down the road if we want a kid that is biologically ours. They'll be able to retrieve eggs. And even if they can't, we can adopt. Or if that's not something you want anymore, then we don't have to have kids. But I have to have you in my life, Steph. You're home. You're the heart of the family I want. It doesn't matter if it is a family of just two or more; I don't want any of it if I can't have you."

I looked into his eyes and saw the absolute truth in what he was saying, so I nodded to him and let him put the ring back on my finger. Then I crawled into his lap and let him hold me as we both cried and mourned the future we'd both only recently begun to dream of and knew now would probably never get to have.


	32. Healing

_**Sam's POV** _

I was pretty sure I knew what was going on, both physically and mentally with Steph and Steve at least on an intellectual level. I'd seen where those stab wounds were on Steph and I knew the specialties of the doctors that had been brought in. Sitting in the common room with a morose group of teammates, I finally said, "I just don't get why they stabbed her."

Natasha's voice sounded much more detached than I knew she actually felt when she responded, "wasn't going to kill her, but they were probably hoping the blood loss would help keep her under long enough for her to get to her destination."

Bucky chimed in sounding equally mechanical as he added, "or keep her from being able to fight back if she did regain consciousness."

And that made a sick sort of sense, so I muttered, "bastards."

Thor was pacing endlessly along the windows and every once in a while, a clap of thunder could be heard, which was not as common of a sound in the winter as it was in the summer.

"What exactly happened to her?" Jane asked hesitantly, and Thor sighed then stopped pacing for long enough to bend down and tell her. Her eyes widened and her lips trembled a little, and when Darcy looked at her plaintively, she leaned over and let Darcy in on the information.

"We don't know for sure," I said hopefully.

Finally breaking his silence in the corner where he was trying to meditate, Bruce said, "we're pretty sure; I mean, six specialists are sure."

"You sure you didn't bring any back I can taser in the balls?" Darcy asked.

"Weren't any alive when we got there to bring back," Clint said. "Not that they would have survived the trip anyway."

"So, what do we do for them now?" Jane asked.

I was mildly surprised when everyone turned to look at me. Carefully I said, "we just be there for them. Listen when they want to talk about it and distract them when they don't. I'm guessing by now, Steph's already offered to let Steve off the hook for marrying her."

Pepper gasped, but Bucky just said, "he's not going to go for that."

"No he's not," I agreed. "But her offering and having that doubt in her own worth is going to piss him the hell off. Knowing Steve, he'll try to hide what he's feeling, other than destroying some punching bags, and we need to make sure he doesn't get away with that too much. I'll try to talk them into some counseling session, together and solo. But really, I don't think either will agree. We just take turns being there for them when they need us. That's what family does. So why don't you all try to get some sleep, and I'll wait for Cap in the gym and take first shift."

Slowly everyone filtered out from our unofficial vigil, and when I was the only one left, I went up to my room and changed into some gym clothes. Then I went down, put on one of the TVs on mute, and waited. As soon as I heard the gym door open, I turned the TV off, and watched as Steve got onto one of the souped up treadmills. Climbing onto the one next to him, I settled into a much more normal pace, offering him a smile when he gave me a half-hearted "on your left."

For thirty minutes, we ran in silence. When he finished up and started wrapping his hands, I waved him off and gestured to the boxing ring that we used for sparring.

"No, Sam," he said quietly, "I couldn't promise that I'd be able to hold back enough to not maim or kill you."

And that was complete bullshit because I knew that no matter how upset he was, he wouldn't hurt me permanently. Before I could tell him as much, Bucky materialized and said, "then you'll go in the ring with someone who can take it. You hit me, and you talk to us both while you do."

Steve's nod was curt as he wrapped his hands anyway and then climbed into the ring. For the first five minutes, no one said a word. Bucky managed to pin Steve for a couple seconds and when he did, he gritted out, "say it."

Steve threw Bucky off him and went on a vicious offensive rally before finally pinning Bucky and saying, "I thought she was dead. When they brought me back to the Tower without saying anything and I saw the women all bloody but Steph completely missing, I thought she was dead."

Bucky reassured Steve that Steph wasn't dead then freed himself and fought back for several more minutes. When he pinned Steve again, he looked over at me, so I said, "and what now?"

"I'm so angry," Steve said. It was like making that admission took all the physical rage out of him and he just deflated onto the mat. "I'm so mad that they took away the family we wanted, but I'm even more furious that they made her feel like she's broken and she's not good enough for me anymore."

He looked down at his hands, and I knew he was trying to regain control of his emotions. After a few deep breaths, he looked over at me and said, "I hate that there's nothing I can do to fix it. No plan I can make, nothing I can control that is going to make this better."

"So, you can't physically heal her. Now it's up to you to decide how you're going to carry that new baggage. And how you're going to help her carry hers."

He blew out a breath and climbed out of the ring as he said, "gotta show her it doesn't matter," as he started to breeze past me.

I grabbed on to his arm and said, "it matters, Steve, to both of you. And it's okay to admit that; you can't ignore it."

Without turning to look at me, he nodded his head sadly and said, "but I don't love her any less because of it."

"So that's what you gotta show her. It matters to you, it bothers you and it breaks your heart just like it does hers. But it doesn't change how much you love her."

He kept his head down, but I released his arm and let him walk away. When he was in the elevator and it was well on its way back upstairs I punched the bag I was standing next to. Then I turned to Bucky and said, "thanks for your help."

He nodded then looked back at the ring, "spar? You look like you could do with being allowed to hit something too."

I agreed and spent the next half hour sparring with Bucky, knowing full well the whole time that he was holding back on me. When I finally tapped out and climbed out of the ring, Thor climbed in and approached Bucky. Those two could easily spar for hours without needing to hold back, and it would be good for both of them, so I left them to it and went upstairs to take a shower and catch some sleep myself. The next few days were going to be rough.

_**Ranger's POV** _

The tough part about no longer being the boss was definitely not being able to demand information whenever I wanted it. When word had come into the control room of an explosion at the dress fitting, I'd thought, "poor Steph. Of course her luck extends to explosions while she's trying to get her wedding dress made. It was probably some kind of freak spontaneous combustion of tulle."

My teams had moved in to check on everyone inside and found the knockout gas. That was when I'd realized it was a serious attack, and mentally kicked myself ten times over for that initial few seconds of lighthearted reaction. Waiting for the correct gear to be taken to the men, then for them to methodically clear the building had been tough. But it was nowhere near as tough as finding out that Steph was missing. Natasha had immediately called an Assemble, and insisted on being the one to tell Steve.

I wasn't sorry to not be the one who had to do that, but I was sorry to not be able to be on the retrieval team. Sitting at the command center and providing intel was much more difficult of a task for me. Of course, once they'd located Steph and moved her to a secret base, things had died down for a couple hours until they'd started making the calls and arrangements for her to be moved back to the Tower. Then things had gotten crazy again.

Unwilling to take any chances with Steph's safety, especially when she was already in a vulnerable state, Hector and I had run the background checks on the specialists ourselves. When I'd seen exactly what field they specialized in, I'd pulled up the photos from the team's uniform cameras when they found Steph and put two and two together. The swearing I was doing under my breath was matched in intensity by Hector and I knew he'd reached the same conclusion I had. Knowing it must be a stressful and emotional time, the likes of which I couldn't fully comprehend, I'd ordered my men to stand down and leave Steph alone once she'd returned to her rooms for the night. They could see her the next day.

Despite how adamant Steph had been about not wanting kids when she was with Morelli, I was certain that she would be crushed to have that decision taken away from her now that she'd found the man I was sure she was meant to be with. And all I'd ever wanted from her, no matter who she was with, was for her to be happy. Which is why the next morning before anyone could venture upstairs, I sat all the men down and had a little bit of sensitivity training. If Steph didn't want to talk about what had happened when she'd been captured, particularly her injuries, she didn't have to outside of what was needed to improve security in the future.

Because Steph had killed all of her attackers, and not a single one was carrying ID or a note that said, "Hi, I work for _", we had our work cut out for us even more. Actually, we weren't making much progress at all, but not a single one of us could bring himself to regret the choice she'd made. As long as it wasn't keeping her up at night, we were happy to know that the group of men wouldn't be coming back for her.

Still, it seemed unlikely to be connected to Mario back in Trenton because he didn't really have reach outside of the greater Trenton area, the appropriate level of financing to pull off hiring that many guys, or the mobility to do so as he'd found himself back in the joint for a couple months on assault charges. Also, none of the bodies belonged to any of his known associates nor did the couple we  _had_  been able to identify have any ties to Mario.

In fact, they didn't seem to have any kind of background whatsoever, which was worrisome in that it implied that it was someone more on the range of an Avengers enemy than just one of Steph's run-of-the-mill crazies. As if them stabbing her right off the bat while she was unconscious and kidnapping her in the manner they had wasn't enough of a reason to believe that. At the end of the day, we'd debriefed to the best of our ability with the information we had and made adjustments for future outings.

_**Natasha's POV** _

Everyone was treating Steph with kid gloves, and while I understood the reason behind it, after a certain point, it was going to do more harm than good. She was physically healed, but other than the debrief session, she had laid in bed for three days, refusing to let anyone who wasn't Steve in to see her. When I woke up early and asked JARVIS if Steph was up yet, he informed me that she was awake but still in bed. Asking if he would let me in, I found that Steph had not yet lifted her ban. So, I immediately strode over to the nearest console and began overriding protocols. Obviously JARVIS was on my side because he put up a token resistance before pretty much holding my hand and guiding me through the override. It was almost insulting.

This time when I walked in, Steve didn't seem at all surprised. I raised my brow and he responded with, "I expected you yesterday."

"JARVIS," Steph complained.

Before he could respond, I said, "I overrode him. Get up."

"I don't want to. I'm hurt." Steph mumbled from under the covers she'd pulled over her head.

"I have it on good authority your stab wounds and head have fully healed."

"Haven't you heard? Seems like everyone knows somehow; I'll never be fully healed," she said it so bitterly that I couldn't blame Steve for the wince I saw on his face.

"Maybe not," I murmured as I pulled the covers away and began wrestling her out of bed. "Maybe you'll never be fully healed the way you want, but Steph if you don't get out of this bed and move on with your life, you're letting them win. And I know you don't want those bastards to win."

After that, she stopped struggling against me and just let me guide her gently through a morning routine and into gym clothes. When I finally had her on her way out the door, I looked back and saw a glimmer of hope in Steve's eyes. He'd been doing his part to keep her going, and now it was my turn to do mine, so I smiled at him encouragingly. Stepping down the stairs, I saw Bucky, and gestured up toward where I'd come from hoping he'd get Steve out of the Tower for at least a little while.

The first day's sparring session involved a lot of cursing and ended up with Steph screaming then crying in a ball on the gym floor. That was by far the worst day and I was glad Steve wasn't there to witness it. That seemed to be the turning point though, Steph smiled at lunch the second day and by the third day when she was crying on the sparring mats it was because she was laughing so hard she had lost all control. Steve walked in, started to run to her when he saw her on the ground. The look of relief on his face when he realized she was laughing was enough to melt even the coldest of hearts.

On the last day of January, three weeks after Steph's attack and two and a half weeks after I began intervening to bring Steph back into herself, I woke up way too early considering how late I'd gotten in from a short solo mission the night before. And of course, I sleep knives on me, so Clint, who was apparently in on it, had slipped out of bed before I was awoken. Steph was fully expecting it and effectively countered until I was awake enough to realize who she was and stop fighting.

"Swear to God, Steph, you must have a death wish. I went to bed four hours ago, do you have any idea how much I want to sleep right now?"

"Get up."

"I don't want to. I'm tired," I replied pulling the covers over my head. Steph snickered and then jumped on the bed and started tickling me awake. "Alright, alright, I'm awake! I'm going to take a shower, and there had better be a delicious latte with my name on it when I get downstairs."

When I walked back out of the shower, I found a casual outfit set out for me, including the boots that I preferred because they allowed me to hide my knives in them. Sitting next to them was a piping hot latte, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation, so I just drank the latte and put on the outfit. As soon as I arrived downstairs, I realized that Steph looked really nervous, and Steve was sitting there in sweats, obviously not planning to go anywhere and looking very stressed out about it. There were half a dozen plainclothes security, and it appeared that we'd drawn the top dogs for the day as Ranger and Tank were among them.

Tony was sitting there half asleep and he said, "well damn, I owe you a hundred bucks, Steph. I did not think you would be able to get her awake and dressed." When I looked at him blandly he added for my benefit, "I told her you'd kill her if she tried."

"I would never kill  _Steph_ ," I said, emphasizing her name just to watch Tony gulp at the implication that I would kill him. Probably I wouldn't, but it really was best for him to have that fear.

Taking a deep breath, Steph gave Steve a kiss goodbye then handed me another latte and a breakfast pastry to go and walked to the elevator. I followed her as we went downstairs, right out the front door of the Tower, and our security dissipated around us. We walked half a mile to Saks Fifth Avenue then over to the shoe section. Steph walked straight up to the display of Christian Louboutin's and gestured for me to have at it. I found two pairs of pumps I liked, a pair of mesh open-front booties, and a pair of knee-high boots. When I tried to gather them up to pay for them, Steph just took them from my hands, paid for them, and handed them off to Tank who had materialized to grab them. Then we walked down the road to a boutique where she'd apparently had a leather jacket custom-made for me.

Sensing her mood, I kept quiet as we walked from store to store. It seemed that we'd already ticked the two big items off her list and were mostly wandering aimlessly. Still, we had a good time picking up little things here and there as we wound our way through Manhattan. Finally she stopped walking, sniffled a little, then looked over at me with wide eyes that had tears in them and said, "thanks."

I let out a laugh to cover up my own sudden urge to cry and pulled her into a hug. Then I looped my arm around her waist, pleased when she did the same, and we continued our day chatting and shopping to our hearts' content. When the day started winding down, I looked at her conspiratorily and whispered, "how well do you have these guards of yours trained?"

"They'd do anything for me."

"Good!" I clapped my hands and guided her to my favorite lingerie boutique, insisting that we both needed to pick some things out for Valentine's day and that I needed to see what she liked for when I went shopping for a bachelorette gift. When I noticed that our escort really couldn't blend in and looked monumentally uncomfortable, I cackled with glee, happy when Steph joined in with laughter of her own.

I managed to get a picture of her laughing, which was hands down a favorite sight of everyone in the Tower these days and texted it to Steve.

My phone buzzed with a reply, " _thanks. You're an angel._ " That really wouldn't do, so I waited for the perfect moment, and when Steph was thoughtfully contemplating an extremely sexy number complete with garter belt, I took a picture of her holding it up.

This time my phone buzzed and I saw Steve's reply, " _I take it back. You are an evil, evil woman."_

" _I assume you want me to talk her into buying that then?"_

" _Yes, please."_  I snorted at that. I mean, seriously, was the man ever not polite?


	33. Surprise!

_**Steph's POV** _

My trip out of the Tower with Natasha had apparently signaled to the team that I was ready to be me again. And really, I couldn't blame them because it signaled that to myself as well. It was almost as though walking out of the Tower that day had me walking out of a fog I'd been wrapped in unknowingly. Shortly after my kidnapping and assault, our Public Relations office had put out a simple statement that I had been injured in the line of duty and was recovering at the Tower. No further information had been given, but once word got out that I had been seen in Manhattan, there was quite the fan base there to greet us on our return. With Natasha's support, I greeted the fans, and spent quite a lot of time thanking them for their well wishes.

When we got back to the Tower, everyone was standing there waiting for us. I thought this was odd until Natasha started going through her purchases, trading out her boots for the new pair she'd bought, and sticking other items from the trip into a piece of luggage that, given the red hourglass on it was clearly hers. I looked over and saw a bag with a depiction of my daggers on it, but questions I had were momentarily waylaid by Steve pulling me into a hug and a kiss. I could feel the relief pouring off of him at my safe return. Then we were on the move, everyone split up into two limos on our way to the airport and onto one of Stark Industry's private jets before I could hardly even blink an eye.

Once we were in the air, I crawled onto Steve's lap in one of the armchairs and said, "so. Wanna tell me where we're going?"

"Well, apparently Stark Industries owns a recording company, and the Grammy's are next week, so we're going to Tony's rebuilt mansion in Malibu for the week. Then we'll go to the Grammy's on Sunday."

Pepper was apparently listening in from her chair across from us and said, "that's not all of it."

Steve sighed, "The people who organize the award show very rarely have non-musical celebrities do presentations of awards, as I assume you know, but this year they asked that you and I present once they saw us on Tony's guest list. Pepper tells me it has to do with ratings and you and I being a big draw to the public right now. I agreed, but if you don't feel up to it, Natasha is willing to go up there instead."

"Are you kidding?!" I squealed. "Of course I'll do it!"

"Told you so," came Pepper's sing-song reply, and when I looked over at her, she smiled at me.

Our week in Malibu was filled with fun and as much sun as I could possibly manage. It was so much warmer there than in the snowy hell that New York had become this winter. Apparently Vera Wang was needed for some award show attendees' dresses so we fit in another wedding dress fitting of a new mock-up that wasn't covered in blood. It was much less disastrous than the first fitting. And she provided me with a dress to wear to the Grammy's as well.

The Grammy Awards were quite entertaining- as some of the only non-musical people who had tickets to get in, we'd managed to arrive early and sneak in with only minimal fuss on the red carpet. Watching Steve's reactions to some of the outfits that the musicians wore, especially the females who chose to show a lot of skin, was nothing short of hilarious. When asked about it, we dodged questions about the wedding by just largely implying that we weren't making plans yet. It was amazing to see how everyone took the words "one step at a time" when they mentioned our engagement and asked about wedding plans to mean, "hey hey hey, we just got engaged, let's just take this one step at a time," rather than what we actually meant, a truthful, "we approach wedding planning one step at a time."

Of course, not to be outdone, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had us out for The Oscars two short weeks later, so we got to experience the other half of the A-list crowd. Blissfully there had been few missions and call-outs for the Avengers, and the ones I'd joined in on had been quick to be resolved. It was like being able to slowly dip my toes into the pool instead of having to jump right into the deep end, and I found it to be quite a relief. And, after their aerial entrance to my rescue, I'd even convinced Steve and Bucky to take me skydiving and help me learn to jump out of the jet with and without a parachute, carefully finding my limits for the without jumps. Steve had been hesitant at first, but I just told him I always wanted to fly, and he was going to let me. Not to mention that if he was allowed to do it, then so was I.

Wedding planning was going smoothly. Our guests had discreetly been provided a time and a date, as well as the information that it would be taking place in Manhattan, but further details were being withheld until closer to the date. Anyone who had to know whose wedding it was got handed a huge stack of NDAs first, and those who didn't absolutely need to know weren't told.

Someone must have given Vera Wang and her crew at least a few details about what had happened after I'd been taken to the design studio. I knew this because on March 28, exactly two weeks before the wedding somehow, despite my own suspicions, when the wedding dress just flat out didn't fit in the bust or the waist, no one made the potentially awkward mistake of asking if I was pregnant. Soothing noises were made about stress and the back was changed from a zipper to a much more forgiving corset so that any additional weight fluctuations would go unnoticed.

For the next week, I festered over it. I knew what the doctors had said two and a half months ago, but I had begged off of any follow-up appointments with Bruce, Jemma, or any of the specialists because it was just too depressing. And somehow, Steve had let me blow off those appointments. But suddenly that seemed like maybe that had been an unwise decision. I hadn't had a period since the incident, but given everything that had been said, it wasn't a surprise. True, I had been nauseous almost constantly the past few weeks, barely managing to hide it from the team when I was sick, and way more exhausted than usual, but everyone had written it off as stress and maybe some lingering depression. And Steve and I hadn't been using any protection because, well, what was the point if you were infertile, clean, and monogamous?

What was stressing me out more was just that niggling hope in the corner of my mind that I couldn't get to go away no matter how much I replayed my mental recordings of each specialist telling me I'd never get pregnant. The dress fitting was the last straw. If no one else was going to question or ask me about it, then I was just going to have to figure it out for myself. So, I devised a plan, swore JARVIS to secrecy, and snuck out of the Tower for my first solo trip in months well disguised to avoid being recognized. I managed to make my purchase and return unseen while Steve still slept. Then I snuck into my rooms, to which I returned since Natasha had pulled me out of them the first time, and peed on some sticks.

When those came back positive, I felt that seed of hope grow just a little bit. But I still replayed those doctors' visits and tried to keep myself from getting my hopes up. I went through the motions of all the public events we had to do on Easter Sunday followed by the Egg Roll at the White House on Monday. If anyone asked me why I seemed distracted, I just told them I was excited about the wedding, which we had formally announced the day before. And if my eyes welled up when I saw a few babies, no one on the team dared question me about that.

Finally on Tuesday, with our Saturday wedding fast approaching, I managed to pull Bruce aside and ask if I could talk to him privately in his lab. Then after considering it, I asked him to discreetly get Jemma there as well because Coulson's team was in the Tower for the week to handle anything and everything they could on behalf of the team in the lead up to the wedding. Once we were all three in the office off of Bruce's lab, I chewed on my lip nervously.

Bruce, who was usually so patient, finally cracked after two minutes of silence and said, "what is it? Are you having complications from your injuries that you've been hiding from us?"

You could say that, I thought to myself. However when Jemma jumped up and rushed me over to the couch, I realized that I'd said it aloud. With no other option at that point, I blew out a breath and said, "remember how you two and those specialists you brought in all said that all my reproductive bits had been messed up by the stabbing, and it didn't look like the serum was going to miraculously fix that, so I wasn't going to be able to have kids?"

Jemma's eyes widened at my harsh description, but Bruce just nodded.

"And remember how when you asked me if I wanted you to follow up on that once I'd healed, I told you that I'd gone to one of the specialists?"

Jemma slowly said, "yes."

"Well, I didn't. And when the specialists asked, I told them I'd followed up with you. And well, probably I should have followed up. I mean, I guess I kind of am now, at any rate… I… uhh… I think I'm pregnant?"

There was an awkward pause and Jemma said, "Steph, if you haven't had your period, remember, that was something we talked about and expected as a very real probability."

"No, it's not that. Well, I mean, yes, I haven't had my period, but well, Steve and I haven't been using birth control because why would we. And I've been like crazy nauseous, and tired. At first I figured it was just stress, but then my wedding dress didn't fit, and I just had this feeling. So I went out and got, and I am not joking here, a dozen pregnancy tests. And I took them all. Then I hid them so that no one would find them because I didn't want to get Steve's hopes up, but they were all positive. Is  _that_  an expected side effect?"

Bruce and Jemma shared a look for a minute, before he turned to me and said, "No, Steph, it's not." He pulled out some vials from a drawer and drew blood quickly. As he was doing so, Jemma wheeled in a machine from the other room. "Obviously neither of us is an actual medical doctor, but given that there are no doctors who know as much as we do about the serum anyway, we ordered this in case, at some point, you decided to follow up with us and wanted us to see if there was anything we could do to repair your fertility. Of course, it seems that perhaps we just needed to trust in those serums a little more than we did."

They both stepped out of the room to allow me to slip off my pants and get under the drape cloth then they came back in and Bruce stood up by my head and surprised me by holding my hand offering me emotional support as Jemma walked me through the transvaginal ultrasound process. As soon as there was an image up on the screen, my heart skipped a beat. "Is that…?"

When I trailed off, Bruce teased, "you know, Steph, one baby would have been sufficient to prove us wrong."

I was still staring at the screen in shock, so Jemma just continued what she was doing, pointing things out and commenting with Bruce about them. I don't think I heard a single word she said. Finally she removed the probe and they stepped out to give me a chance to clean up and put my pants back on. When they gently tapped on the door, I called out that I was ready, and Jemma came right in and gave me a hug. I started crying and they both just patiently waited until I finished up, at which point Bruce handed me a cup of tea.

"So, Steph, you look to be roughly 10 weeks pregnant with twins. From what we can tell, they have separate placentas, which is good, though it means we don't know whether or not they will be identical. Everything appears to be healthy, but we've asked one of the specialists you saw before to come in and I've made arrangements with JARVIS for her to do so quietly. I hope you don't mind, I picked Dr. Chen; I think we all liked her best. She was about to go on her lunch break, her office is just down the street, and you've killed enough time with that crying that I think…" Bruce trailed off when JARVIS interrupted him.

"Doctors Banner and Simmons, your guest is in the elevator and on her way up."

"Perfect," Bruce said and stepped out of the room.

"Do I need to take my pants back off?" I asked Jemma.

"No, at least not yet. You're far enough along, she should be able to use the transabdominal probe. We just weren't sure what we were going to find and wanted the better, more reliable results of the transvaginal for if it had been earlier in the pregnancy."

Dr. Chen walked in, greeted us, and didn't manage to contain her shock when Jemma and Bruce showed her the video and stills they had gathered from the scan Jemma had performed.

"Well, Ms. Plum, I don't know what to say." She stopped there and just stared at me for a few minutes, gaping. Apparently at a loss, she just asked me to roll down my pants so that she could do an ultrasound of her own. When she did, she confirmed everything Bruce and Jemma had said before asking me to change into a gown and allow her to perform a normal checkup as well.

Once that was finished, and Jemma and Bruce had rejoined us in the office, we sat there somewhat awkwardly. I was pretty sure all three doctors were baffled, but I was also worrying about something else they'd said months ago. Finally, I asked what was my darkest fear, "when you told me I wouldn't conceive, you also said that even if I did, I would in all likelihood miscarry."

All three faces turned to me in shock and then they all started talking and reassuring me all at once. "For most people, there would be tons of scar tissue that would make carrying to term highly unlikely," Jemma finally managed to say over the others, "but you show absolutely no signs of there ever being any trauma. I don't want to give you false hope because I mean, there's always some risk, and it is slightly elevated with multiples, but if anything I'd say that you're probably more likely to have a perfectly healthy pregnancy. I mean, you and Steve are both the epitome of healthy humans. Peak human perfection, really. It stands to reason that your babies probably will be as well."

We all sat in silence again and contemplated that for a bit as well. I broke the silence once more saying, "I'd appreciate it if you could keep this to yourselves until after the wedding. As long as there isn't an Assemble called, I think I'd like to tell Steve at the end of the day on Saturday. You know, it's a really good surprise wedding present."

Bruce's smile grew as he said, "he's going to be so excited when you tell him."

"Can you guys give me a picture of one of those ultrasounds? I honestly don't think he's going to believe me. It's a good thing we're not planning to go on a honeymoon because you know he's going to need to bombard you with questions."

Jemma looked over at Bruce and said, "then I guess we'd better discreetly study up for the rest of the week so we're ready to answer."

I turned to Dr. Chen and said, "uh, are you accepting new patients? And if so, are you willing to work with these two and maybe make arrangements to come here for appointments?"

"Absolutely. I'm certain this will be the most interesting case I've ever seen. Now, you need to make sure you're eating plenty, drinking tons of water, and I'll write down the name of my recommended prenatal vitamins for twins. You're going to have a busy end of the week here, so make sure you take care of yourself but also just relax and enjoy it. Have fun and try not to worry because everything looks fabulous. I'll call Dr. Banner next week and set up an appointment for the following week, and I'll bring a bunch of pamphlets and information with me then."

After the doctor left, Jemma caught me pinching myself and just smiled softly offering me congratulations and promising it was real. For the rest of the week, I pretty much floated through everything. Steve and I had a number of parties to attend, and thankfully no one thought oddly of me not drinking as Steve didn't either and it didn't really do anything for either of us. I knew I had a goofy grin on my face, and I couldn't help the fact that I kept staring at Steve. At least that was acceptable behavior for a bride on the home stretch to her wedding, so I was pretty sure nobody was any wiser for it.

At my insistence, Steve and I spent the night before the wedding together in his room. I couldn't imagine a better way to start the day, even if it was ridiculously early, than when I woke up entwined in his arms. We made love ever so tenderly then I packed up a bag for Happy to take to the hotel at which we were spending the next two nights for privacy, took a shower, and giving Steve a kiss with a whispered, "I love you, see you in a few hours." I went upstairs to Tony and Pepper's floor in just my robe. As soon as I stepped foot off the elevator, Tony swept me up in a hug, twirled me around, and gave me a kiss on the cheek before grabbing his tux bag and stepping into the elevator with a wave goodbye.

"Happy Wedding Day!" Pepper, Natasha, Jane, Darcy, Maria, and Sif all shouted at me as soon as I turned back around from the whirlwind that was Tony's greeting. I shrieked and did a little happy dance before they pulled me into a big group hug.

When we separated, I walked over to Sif and pulled her into another hug and said, "I'm so glad you could make it! We had a dress made for you just in case!"

My morning sickness was really more of randomly-at-any-time sickness, so I was able to maintain my cover and happily graze my way through the spread of breakfast finger foods and fruits that Pepper had provided throughout the day as we were getting ready. I was aware of Pepper and Darcy at times stepping out and frantically speaking into their phones or coordinating with JARVIS, but if anything was going wrong, they did a wonderful job of shielding me from it. All I had to do was allow myself to be pampered by the spa staff, have a manicure and pedicure, allow someone else to deal with my hair, and sit still while my makeup was applied for me. While we had photographers hired for the ceremony and receptions, we didn't need one for the getting ready pictures because we had JARVIS.

Fifteen minutes before it was time for me to put on my dress, and yes, Pepper had everything planned down to the minute, the women were already in their dresses, and the elevator door chimed signaling a visitor. I looked over as Bucky walked in with my father and had to start blinking and fanning my face to keep from crying as my dad pulled me into a hug. Once he let me go, Bucky did the same before pulling a package and a card out of his jacket pocket.

"This is from Steve," he said softly, and I took it with a smile. Then I looked at Natasha frantically and she just stepped forward with the pre-wedding present I had for Steve.

Bucky slipped it in his jacket and I said to him, "tell Steve he better be on time." Then on a whim, I added, "and tell him I have another couple little somethings for him when we get to the hotel."

Everyone's laughter told me they thought I was referring to lingerie, and that was just fine with me if it helped me maintain my cover. Still, Bucky waited as I read the card on my present and couldn't hold back the tears at the simple, "I love you, and I can't wait to marry you." Steve had scrawled inside. Thank goodness for waterproof makeup. When I opened the box, it contained a sapphire necklace and earring set that would, of course, match my dress design wonderfully and provide me with "something blue". I pulled Bucky into another hug before Pepper shooed him away so that I could get dressed.

Leaving my dad in the outer living room area, we stepped into the bedroom, and I excused myself to quickly use the bathroom one more time before the dress went on. At least I'd learned that from my first wedding! I had brought the jewelry box with me, so I carefully put on my new jewelry smiling as I did. Making sure the door was firmly closed, I slid a hand down to my belly and said, "please be good to Mommy today, okay? No vomiting, please? I promise to make honest babies out of you today in return, and to tell your daddy all about you tonight. You're our miracle babies and we love you."

When I walked back out, Natasha had the dress out of the bag and was waiting for me. I looked at it, then looked at the women around me and smiled and said, "I'm getting married today!"

That brought about a round of laughter as I carefully stepped into the dress. Natasha took her time lacing up the back, then everyone stood back to take it all in.

"I want to see!" I said waiting impatiently for Pepper to wheel over a mirror for me. Finally getting a look at myself, I let out the breath I'd been holding. First of all, I definitely didn't look pregnant, which was a relief. My dress was a super soft and silky satin material almost like a strapless dress, except there was lace that ran along the bust over the satin and then up over my shoulders creating a tank-top effect. The lace disappeared into a satin waist that was gathered to work with the structured ribbing and create a flattering look that made me look super skinny. The skirt of the dress was A-line with clean-barely noticeable beading that matched the pattern of the lace from the center of the front and along the bottom all the way through the very long train. The beading worked its way back up the back of the center of the train and went along either side of the corset. There was a built-in petticoat, so there was a lot of dress, but with not an ounce of tulle in sight. It looked clean and sophisticated rather than poofy and frilly.

Sif stepped forward and steadied me as Darcy helped me into my custom-made shoes and Natasha carefully affixed the veil onto my headpiece as we'd practiced with the hairdresser several times and pulled the blusher down over the front. Hey, I'd decided if we were doing this thing big, we were doing it, veil and all. Plus, it was Steve's first wedding, and if he had shyly admitted that he wanted to lift a veil off my face at the end of the ceremony, who was I to deny him such a small request? With one more look at the mirror, I turned, and everyone scrambled to grab a piece of dress so that it wouldn't get caught or damaged as I walked out to the living room. My father stood up as I walked in and said, "you look beautiful, Pumpkin. This dress suits you much better than the last, and I can without a doubt say the same about your groom."

I'd been trying not to dwell too much on the last wedding, but I appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. Taking the arm he offered me, I said, "thanks, Daddy. Now what do you say we go get me married again?"

"I say it's a deal, as long as you do your best to give me a grandson." There was a collective in-drawn breath from the women at that as we stepped on the elevator. We hadn't told my father the extent of my injuries, but thankfully he somehow missed their reactions to his comment. Not looking at anyone, I just patted his arm with my free hand in response. There were tears in my eyes again for a moment, but not for the reason all the other women thought.


	34. Wedding

**_Steph's POV_ **

Among all of the wedding plans, the part that had caused the most arguing and heated moments had been deciding how I would get from the Tower to Central Park. We'd gotten a special permit and been granted tons of allowances to turn the big open Sheep Meadow into a secure location for the wedding. It included building a giant gazebo, which would be moved to a better long-term location but donated to the park nonetheless as well as a very generous donation to the park fund.

Steve had wanted me basically traveling in an armored tank, and Pepper wanted me going there in a horsedrawn carriage. I really hadn't cared as long as I got there and didn't have to walk too far, and thus risk tripping before I made it down the aisle. The matter had been settled by Tony lifting his ban on me touching his cars for the day. He had a car with a big enough backseat for me, my dad, and my dress that was mostly windows, for Pepper and the public, and also entirely bulletproof for Steve. The whole thing felt exceedingly Royal Wedding redux, but Pepper assured me it was for the best and that we pretty much were American royalty anyway.

When we reached the garage, I was surprised to see the car pulled up close to elevator, with my Merry Men dressed in their MIB best lining the walk from the elevator to the car. A smile lit up my face when I saw them all, and they whistled, clapped, and hollered as I made my way to the car. It was a bit of a process to get me in the car such that the back of my dress wouldn't wrinkle too badly- my poor father was practically swallowed by my 10-foot long train. Once I was settled, the women quickly dashed to the limo in front of us, which would be driven by Happy, and Tank and Ranger got into the front seat of my car to drive me to my wedding.

"You ready for this, Little Girl?" Tank asked, adding with a gentle smile, "we could always make a run for it if you're not."

I laughed and said, "I am more than ready to marry Steve!"

"Then let's go," Ranger said, "the Captain is already there, eagerly awaiting your arrival."

The NYPD was heavily involved in the security for an event this large, as was the Secret Service since President and Mrs. Obama and their daughters would be in attendance as would several other major heads of U.S. and foreign governments. Not to mention the celebrities. It was definitely the event of the year. Our police escort started up their lights and the Merry Men jumped into their SUVs (one on either side of the girls' limo and my car). As everyone started inching toward the gates I asked, "how bad is it out there?"

My father laughed, and Ranger's eyes sparkled as they met mine in the mirror. It was my father who answered, "let me tell you Pumpkin, I've never seen anything like it."

"They love you though," Ranger added reassuringly. "Now get your smile on and greet your fans! Look like you're happy about this."

"I am over the moon!" I said, and I knew he was teasing because I hadn't been able to stop smiling all day.

Despite the warning I'd received, I was taken aback by the reception as soon as our car cleared the garage. The screams and cheers were deafening, and I was glad that Pepper and Natasha had put me sitting on the very edge of the seat so I could see out past my dad and wave at fans on both sides of the car. There were camera flashes going off like crazy, and I was glad not just for my own sake but for all these people's sakes as well that it wasn't raining out. It was less than two miles from the Tower to where we were being dropped off at the park, but it seemed to take an hour to get there. I started bouncing my leg impatiently and my father just reached over and grabbed my hand.

"You nervous, Pumpkin?"

"There are going to be so many people watching. What if I fall? Or mess up my lines?"

"Well, I'm not going to let you fall on your way down, and I assure you Steve won't let you fall on the way back. If you mess up your lines, just laugh and everyone will find it endearing."

"Oh my God, what if I cry?"

"Then the world will just be even more easily able to tell how much you love him."

I looked out the window continuing to wave and said, "I can't believe this is my life now. I don't know why all these people are so excited or what they see in me."

"You're a hero, Steph. So is Captain Rogers. People need that kind of positivity and light in an otherwise dark world. You provide that for them, and it makes them happy." Ranger simply said.

"Not to mention you're loveable and relatable, so they all like to see a bit of themselves in you," said Tank. "In a good way."

We were approaching the home stretch, and I waited as all the women piled out of their car. One of the onsite coordinators Pepper had hired stepped forward and started passing out flowers. Darcy took two bridesmaid bouquets and Natasha took my bridal bouquet in her hands waiting for me. In the distance I could see the top of the gazebo over the heads of all the wedding guests. Everyone but the ladies scattered out of the oncoming flurry of activity as the car holding my father and I pulled up. As my father got out of his side, I heard Ranger whisper, "you look beautiful, Babe. Congratulations, and knock them dead," before he and Tank got out to take up the "bullet catcher" positions I so thoroughly hated having anyone occupy on either side of the car.

My father walked around and opened the door next to me. He reached his hand in and said, "Love you, Pumpkin. I've got you. Time to go."

With one last steadying breath, I grabbed onto his arm and carefully maneuvered myself out of the car. The ladies were quickly moving in and helping get my dress safely out of the way, then they all strode forward except Natasha and waited. I smiled and waved at the fans who were in the immediate vicinity, trying to ignore the video cameras mixed in with the usual newspaper cameras. Natasha handed me my bouquet, and I looked down at it with a smile. I hadn't seen it yet, and I loved it. It had a mixture of blue and white hydrangeas as the base. Dotted throughout where white calla lilies and white stephanotis- little star-shaped flowers the florist had pasted pearls on. It was wrapped in a silver ribbon, though at the moment I had an old handkerchief of Grandma Mazurs around it that I would keep in my hand during the ceremony in case of tears. On my wrist was a gorgeous borrowed diamond bracelet of Natasha's, and my dress was new, so with my sapphire necklace and earrings, I was all covered on the old, new, borrowed, and blue fronts.

I walked forward on the red carpet that was marking my path several yards so that Natasha could straighten out my train one last time before we fully entered the field of view of the guests. Cameras hadn't stopped clicking since I'd gotten out of the car, and I had almost stopped noticing the sound. Natasha eyed me during one more critical walk around before coming to stand by my side. She wiped a stray tear off my face and gave my cheek a pat. "Let's do this so we can get on with the party, okay?"

I smiled, which was no doubt her intention, and then nodded my head in agreement. Just like that, the music started up and the women started walking forward. Jane led the way, followed by Maria, Pepper, Sif, Darcy, and finally Natasha. My father gave me one more comforting pat as the music changed and everyone stood. Wow, that was a lot of guests.

"I'm so glad I didn't have to pay for this one, Steph," my father said. And it was the perfect thing to say because I tilted my head back, laughed. Hard. As I did, I felt a big weight of anxiety ease inside of me. I had my shoulders straight, and my head held high as we started walking forward. As soon as I cleared the corner to be at the end of the aisle, wedding coordinators appeared and straightened my train one more time. At that point, I could see Steve waiting for me at the end of the aisle, and that was all I saw the rest of the way. When I was close enough to see the love pouring out of those eyes, I felt a couple of tears start welling up.

Finally, my father was pulling my veil back enough to give me a kiss on the cheek before dropping it back down and shaking Steve's hand. Then I was taking the last couple of steps forward. Right as I was about to start crying, Steve's deep voice said, "you sure know how to make an entrance," and he winked at me. I let out a surprised laugh and he followed it up by saying, "you look beautiful, Steph. I love you."

We turned as our attention as one to the Mayor, who had eagerly insisted on performing the ceremony for us when he found out it was going to be non-denominational. Truthfully, I tuned out a lot of his opening monologue, smiling and nodding at what seemed like appropriate times and sneaking sideways glances at Steve, meeting his gaze and smiling every time. When it seemed that the long speech about how much of an honor it was to have "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" call his wonderful "town" home, and know that they were there watching over the City, blah, blah, was going to wind down, I tuned back in.

He asked us to turn and face each other, so I handed Natasha my bouquet and did as instructed. Now as he spoke, I was able to look directly at Steve and feel safe, warm, and loved. There was no room for nerves, and I forgot all about the crowd of people behind us and lining the streets outside the park. Not to mention the people watching on TV. That's right, TV. I made it through the questions of intent and my "I do" and everything was going smoothly.

That is until I started reciting my vows, got choked up on emotion and love, and started panicking because I realized I was crying in front of MILLIONS of people like some silly girl. I carefully blotted at my running nose with my handkerchief and prayed that I wasn't getting blotchy and red. Steve just put his finger under my chin, tilted my face up so that my wide, panicked eyes met his and calmly smiled saying, "breathe." With a nod, I took a deep breath then forced it out to take another then another. Composure regained, I powered through the rest of my vows. When we exchanged rings, my voice only cracked a couple times.

Time slowed as he pronounced us husband and wife and told Steve he could kiss the bride. With a big smile, Steve carefully flipped the veil all the way over my face and gently drew me into a kiss with his hands on the small of my back. I threw my hands around his neck and held on for what was a long but relatively chaste kiss given the public nature of it. We pulled back just a little and smiled at each other.

"I love you, husband," I said.

"I love you, wife," he replied.

We turned together to face our guests and I reached over to take my bouquet back from Natasha who reminded me to hold it low. Then we stepped forward a couple steps, arms linked, to allow Natasha to straighten my dress back out. Looking back to make sure she was all set and getting a big thumbs up, I smiled at Steve and we walked back down the aisle together. This time, I made sure to look around at everyone who was there, and smile at those I knew and had met before, politely nodding at those I did not.

Waiting for us off to the side was a smallish, enclosed event tent, and we stepped in and to the back corner, out of the view of the door flap when it opened and enjoyed a much deeper kiss than we'd shared moments ago. I could hear the voices of our teammates outside and knew they were buying us a couple more minutes alone. Taking full advantage, we kissed deeply until Tony called out, "knock knock, we're coming in!" Reluctantly, we pulled apart and turned to our friends with huge smiles on our faces that were returned in kind.

"We did it!" I squealed which was met with laughter. A moment later, the Mayor stepped in with a photographer so we could sign the marriage license, witnessed by Natasha and Bucky and handed directly off to a Southern District judge who promised to file it immediately before venturing to Brooklyn for the reception. Tony and Pepper, quite diplomatically, moved the politicians on their ways, leaving us with just the team once again. There was a table set off to the side with a bunch of sandwiches since it was just after noon and we had a couple hours to go until we'd have the opportunity to eat again.

I noticed Bruce carefully watching me to make sure I ate plenty, and drank a bunch of water, but thankfully no one else seemed to notice. We sat and chatted about all the insanity thus far, and my father came in and joined us. Once we'd gotten the all clear, we made our way back out to the gazebo for wedding pictures. Of course the photographer Pepper had hired was efficient so we finished our pictures there with plenty of time to go take extras in some pre-cleared locations elsewhere in the park as well.

After a couple hours, Steve and I climbed into the car I had taken to the ceremony, and I cuddled into him as we waved at the fans and watched the city go by around us. The reception was fun, though it was filled pretty much entirely with greeting our nearly 2,000 guests. We managed only a few pauses to grab food to refuel and drink more water before moving onto the next tables. Still, we made it to talk to every table, and I was proud of that fact.

When that reception was over, we moved back to the Tower where we had a much smaller party for just close family and friends. The toasts were more like roasts, cake cutting was done, and glasses were tapped endlessly to get Steve and I to kiss. In short, it was the for-fun reception, without expectations and political to-dos.

Finally, around 1am, Steve and I climbed into a limo and rode over to the Peninsula Hotel. We were quickly ushered in and up to our suite where our bags were already waiting for us. Steve carried me through the doorway and then set me on my feet, going back to tip the bellhop and put up the "Do Not Disturb" sign before walking back to me. With a sigh of relief that we were finally alone, I reached up and pulled Steve down for a kiss filled with unbridled passion.

Pulling back, I turned my back to him and said, "please, please, please unhook this torture device. It was great, it was gorgeous, and it was so comfortable when I put it on! But 14 hours later and I think I might cry if I ever see a corset again!"

It took Steve a minute to figure out how to pull the strings at the bottom out from where they were tucked away out of sight, and then he slowly unlaced it, kissing up my back as he exposed skin and whispering to me how beautiful I was. When he finally finished freeing me, I let out a sigh of relief before turning back to him. Slowly I backed toward the bathroom instead of toward the gorgeous bed, crooking my finger at him to follow me.

Steve raised an eyebrow and I shrugged saying, "bed later. I need a shower, and I don't want to wait."

"Yeah," Steve replied huskily while quickly shedding his tux, "I can get on board with that plan."

I stopped and watched with appreciation while he stripped. When he straightened up and saw me watching him with hunger in my eyes, he rushed forward and picked me up by the hips. Heedless of the undergarments I was still wearing, he turned on the shower and then pulled me into it when the temperature was right. I got the last laugh when the fact that my underclothes were wet made it that much more difficult for him to undo all the clasps. Finally in desperation he asked, "you're not going to wear this again, right? It's a one-time use wedding thing?"

I hummed in agreement and he ripped it to shreds before taking my breast into his mouth and cupping the other with one of his hands. Holy cow those had gotten mighty sensitive without me realizing it. I let him play for a few minutes, but when he slipped a finger inside my already completely drenched core, I pulled back and said, "too slow. I need you now."

After that, he hoisted me back up and pushed into me way more gently than I anticipated. Still, before too long, he was eagerly pounding into me, sending us both over the edge into ecstasy. We caught our breaths before actually showering and cleaning ourselves up. As we stepped out of the shower, we grabbed the robes that were sitting out and slid them on. I located my bag and told Steve, "I have something else for you, and I think it is going to be quite the surprise. I know it was for me."

I guided him to the bed and had him sit down, before sitting next to him, pulling my legs up under me, and handing him the box eagerly. I started chewing on my thumbnail, and he pulled my hand away and gave me a gentle kiss.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll love it," he said.

I held my breath, watching as he slowly unwrapped the box and kept a tight grip on my impatience. Really, did he have to go so slow?

With a chuckle he said, "alright, I'll hurry up. Just trying to savor the moment because whatever has you this worked up has got to be damn good."

He was right about that, so I pulled him in for another, deeper kiss before gesturing emphatically for him to continue. When he pulled off the lid and pulled out the first onesie that said, "Avenger in Training" he had the most adorably baffled expression on his face.

He held it up, then looked at it and looked over at me, clearly confused. "You decided you want to adopt a baby?"

I blew out a shaky breath and just gestured for him to continue. He pulled out another, identical onesie and looked just as confused until he pulled out the envelope under it. Opening it up, he was greeted first with a piece of paper that simply said, "the doctors were wrong."

Below that was a picture of the sonogram from earlier that week, and I'd written in the corner with a silver paint pen, "Surprise! 10 weeks along!" and the date of the sonogram, "April 7, 2015."

Steve stared at them both with disbelief on his face before turning cautiously to me. When he saw me smiling and nodding wildly while crying, I was shocked to see him start crying himself. With more care than I could have ever previously imagined him capable of, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him, holding me and stroking a hand through my hair and down my back.

"They were wrong?" he asked shakily.

"Yeah, Love, they were wrong. Apparently if I'd actually gone and had one of those follow-up appointments, I would have found out that everything ended up healing without even the slightest trace that anything had happened. So, without any birth control… And there's not a single piece of scar tissue in sight, so there shouldn't be any difficulty getting them to stay put. Dr. Chen says everything looks perfect." I laughed at the look of absolute wonder on his face when I pulled back. With a kiss I said, "oh, and in case you didn't notice in the picture or when I called them 'them', there's two! You got me double pregnant!"

Steve's laugh at that was filled with pure joy, and finally, he rubbed my stomach tenderly as he looked up at me, "I don't know, Steph. I think you're still just pregnant. Thank you, this is the best gift I could ever hope for."

"And thank you," I whispered back before letting him lay me down on the bed so he could put his head on my ribs above my belly and caress my so far nonexistent bump and talk to our babies. While he did, I ran my fingers through his hair, allowing the deep timbre of his voice to lull me to sleep. It had been an absolutely perfect but long day.


	35. Planning

_**Steve's POV** _

I felt Steph fall asleep under me as I talked to our unborn babies and I smiled to myself. "I think we wore her out, Babies," I whispered. Gently easing my arm out from under her, I slid off the bed to do one more security check of the suite. I put my shield on my side of the bed with a gun, and Steph's daggers on her side of the bed in their harness. Then, figuring she'd be hungry when she woke, I walked out to where I'd seen the menu and called down asking if it was too late to place an order for breakfast, warning them that it would be large. When I was eagerly reassured it would be no problem, I ordered two of everything to be delivered at 10am.

Exhausted myself from a long, emotional day, I crawled into bed, pulled Steph into me, and fell asleep with a hand placed protectively over the new life she was growing inside of her. I slept peacefully for about five hours before I had the nightmare. I was back on Zola's train, but this time instead of Bucky dangling from the gaping hole in the side of the train, it was a heavily pregnant Steph. And I still didn't reach her in time, forced to watch her fall to her death, taking our unborn children with her. When I woke with a start, Steph had herself wrapped around me and was murmuring in soothing tones, trying to get me to wake up.

I rubbed a hand over my face and said, "it's okay. I'm okay."

"The train again?" she asked quietly. When I nodded my head in acknowledgment, she said even more softly, "but it was me and the babies instead of Bucky."

I looked at her knowing that she'd see the ghosts of my past and fear in my eyes, and made myself whisper, "yes. And I couldn't get there in time to save you."

This time it was Steph who gently laid me back and whispered to me reassuringly before she started pressing kisses all over my body. We made love as the sun came up, and when we finished, Steph sighed, nuzzled into my side and fell back asleep. Once she was well and truly under, I got up and grabbed my sketchbook. Sitting across from the bed, I started sketching my beautiful wife while allowing my mind to wander, slowly making plans.

When Steph woke the second time, it was just before breakfast was due to arrive. She stretched and turned, looking at me and my sketchbook and smiled. As she sat up, her smile slowly faded then she had a hand over her mouth and was scrambling for the bathroom. Alarmed, I followed her to find her getting rather violently ill. I reached down and held her hair back with one hand and rubbed her back in what I hoped was a soothing manner with the other.

Apparently done, she straightened up and brushed her teeth vigorously. Curious because she didn't seem all that surprised or upset about it I asked, "is that the first time? I like to think I would have noticed if not."

"This is the first time it has actually been in the morning, or at least first thing in the morning. It has been pretty randomly dispersed, and I didn't even know what it was until last weekend, so while I hid getting sick a few times, I didn't really know what I was hiding. I'm just glad they let me get through yesterday without any incidents. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I knew for sure on Tuesday, but at that point, I just kind of wanted to wait to make it a wedding present."

As I heard a soft knock on the door, I stood and dropped a kiss on Steph's forehead, "it's fine. I'm not angry; you did well, Honey. I like how you told me, but no more hiding how you're feeling now."

I quickly walked over to open the door and saw a young woman with a large cart laden down with food, and she was practically shaking in her boots. I wondered who on the security team had scared her because I was sure that someone had the way she stuttered through asking if she could come in to set up the food. When I declined and said I could handle it, she quickly nodded and backed away as though she was afraid to turn her back on me. Chuckling, I brought the food inside and then spread it out across the dining room table.

Curious, Steph wandered out and eyed everything I set out. "Anything look good, Sweetheart?"

She paused a moment as though contemplating a very difficult question, or perhaps she was trying to communicate with the twins, but she eventually started loading up a plate and instead of sitting down at the table, ran back to the bedroom and climbed into bed. I smiled and did the same, making sure my side was pressed up all along hers while she ate. When she finished her plate, I tried to talk her into eating more, but she just said that she was having better luck eating lots of small meals, so I packed away the food into the kitchen so we'd have it ready whenever she was hungry again.

We spent the entire day either naked or in our robes, and pretty much just in the bathtub or the bed, depending on Steph's mood. The one exception was when we got dressed up and went downstairs to have dinner. For the second day in a row, I woke up having a nightmare about something happening to Steph. The second time either was bad enough, or she'd just slept long enough before it happened, that Steph didn't fall back asleep after. So this time when I started to plan, I talked to her.

"The first thing we have to do is tell our team, Coulson's team, and the Tower security teams," I had climbed out of bed and was pacing the length of the room with Steph watching me from the bed.

"That makes sense," she replied calmly. "They need to know the entire situation and be able to react appropriately if anything does happen. Plus, they need to expect me to react differently. And, oh crap, I can't go into the field, Steve! I'm sorry."

I laughed a little and said, "trust me, no one will hold that against you. And you can still be useful in the Command Center with your fast assessment, quick reaction times, photographic memory, and familiarity with all of our combat styles." Thinking a little more I added, "we're going to have to make sure the Command Center is bomb-proof though."

"Why would that even be necessary?"

"What if someone calls us out to create a diversion to take the Tower? We have to make sure you're safe inside."

"Okay," she said slowly, eyeing me like I was a little crazy, "we'll go through Tower security with Tony, the team, Ranger,  _and_  Happy again."

"And weapons. We can't have weapons around with the babies. My shield should be okay because it isn't sharp. And Thor's hammer is good because only he can move it. The bow is fine, but Clint will have to get blunted arrows. Nothing Natasha has can be around-it has to go. And don't even get me started on your daggers…"

Without me realizing it, Steph had gotten up, and she stood in front of me, stopping my progress and putting her hands on my shoulders. When I looked at her in surprise she said calmly, "I need you to stop for a minute and really think about what you're saying." I started to protest but she just held up her finger to keep me quiet, "I know you just want the babies safe. I want that too, but you can't take away our weapons. We can talk about how to store them when we aren't wearing them and the babies are here, but we are much more vulnerable unarmed."

"No, you're right, you're right," I said frantically. "Maybe Tony can make them baby armor."

"Okay, clearly, you're just going to keep panicking, so I'm going to let this run it's course for a while. Please don't mention baby armor to Tony though. I don't want the babies flying."

"Obviously it would need auto-pilot," I said.

Steph let out a snort of disgust, which I didn't understand. The babies clearly couldn't pilot it themselves, but JARVIS could just like he was able to do with the jet. I heard the bathtub filling and that was good, Steph should relax. I wasn't sure how much time had passed before she came back out dressed in some skimpy lingerie, it was the black number Natasha had sent me a picture of but I thought Steph hadn't bought.

_**Steph's POV** _

I couldn't decide if Steve's sudden out-of-control and completely ridiculously over-the-top protective streak was cute or annoying. Our conversation had started reasonably enough with telling the team and me out of the field. But then it had just suddenly gone way off the rails. I wasn't proud of the fact that I'd given up on Steve to take a bath, but I reasoned that I needed to stay calm and I was getting the urge to throttle him.

When I got out, I was able to distract him with sex. It was a method I used throughout the day, intent on having myself a sex-filled mini Honeymoon as planned. Tuesday morning, I was the one who had the nightmare about being attacked while pregnant, and it set Steve off again. Enough so that I texted Natasha.

" _Tasha, everything is fine, but can we get an early extraction home? I'll explain when we get there."_

" _You sure everything is okay?"_

" _Yes, it's great, no emergency, we're just ready to be home."_

I walked around and gathered all of our things, packing them into our bags and making sure to leave a generous tip for the maid. I got dressed, cajoled Steve into getting dressed telling him it was time to leave and not surprised when he just kept pacing and planning instead of realizing I was taking us home hours early.

Less than five minutes after I'd texted Natasha, there was a soft tap on the door. I quickly ran through making sure we had everything, especially the onesies and ultrasound photo. Checking the peephole to verify it was Natasha, I opened the door and let her in. She looked over to Steve pacing and muttering to himself and I just shrugged and said, "I'll explain when we get back. How are we doing this?"

"Quinjet is on the roof."

"Sweet." I walked over to our bags, and grabbed mine, letting Natasha take Steve's. I slid my hand into Steve's and guided him out the door behind Natasha. As we settled into the jet, I texted Bruce.

" _Steve's freaking out. Call a team meeting, bring the evidence, I'm announcing when we get back in a minute."_

Natasha had us quickly through pre-flight and back home at the tower a minute after we were in the air. When we got down to the Common Room floor, Bruce stepped forward and took my bag from me. I just rolled my eyes and gestured for him to set it off to the side.

Our entire Avengers family was standing there waiting, worried by Steve's distracted countenance.

"You know, coming back from your Honeymoon early generally isn't the best sign, Steph. Especially with a groom who seems that… not relaxed…"

I snorted out a laugh then deadpanned, "we just didn't want to get stuck in traffic later."

Bucky was looking particularly worried at Steve, so I just smiled at him before guiding Steve into the room to stand next to me in front of everyone. I squeezed his hand and saw him look at me then around at where he was and his eyes widened.

"Welcome back," I murmured before turning to the team. "Okay, I have some things to say. First of all, I want to thank you all for how good you were with me when I was injured in January and dealing with us both in the aftermath of that."

"Of course," Pepper said graciously, with similar sentiment echoed from everyone else.

I stole a glance at Bruce who was smiling then over at Steve who suddenly looked so excited again. I laughed and nudged him, indicating that he could do the honors.

"Well, it seems the Doctors didn't fully understand and respect the powers of whatever serums Steph had injected into her because she's completely healed and about 10 or 11 weeks pregnant."

Everyone looked between us in shock and I couldn't resist loudly shouting, "with twins!"

There was silence until Clint said, "this has got to be the most fucked up joke I've ever heard."

Bruce laughed at that, and pushed a button over in one of JARVIS's consoles, causing the big TV to show the video of the second ultrasound Dr. Chen had taken. "They're not kidding. I was there while we confirmed with two ultrasounds and JARVIS also completed a blood analysis which also came back positive."

The silence stretched for another minute before Darcy apparently decided we really weren't joking and screamed, "OH MY GOD!" Then she started laughing, grabbing me up in a hug and bouncing back and forth. Apparently that broke everyone out of their shock and soon I got treated to similar reactions from each person, though the men were exceptionally gentle when they handled me.

Natasha was last and she pulled me into a hug holding tight as we whispered back and forth, "I'm so happy for you, Steph. This is what you wanted, right?"

"Yes! I mean, it's a big surprise, and I don't know if I would have picked right now, but after thinking it could never happen, I'm too happy to care about that."

"Good call," she said.

"Two is kind of scary though."

"Might as well get more bang for your buck, right? I hear labor sucks."

I laughed and then I suddenly found myself full on crying. Not a soft little happy tear here and there, full on sobbing uncontrollably. Everyone instinctively took a step back except for Steve who stepped forward concerned. I waved off his concern and wailed out, "I'm just so happy," before the sobs overtook me again. Steve folded me into his arms and when I finally started calming down and hiccuping as I caught my breath I felt him shaking with laughter. Rearing back I punched him not all that gently in the stomach and said, "hey, it's not funny!"

Natasha pulled me away to sit down on a couch and Bruce materialized with a cup of chamomile tea which he quietly placed in my hand.

"Sorry, Sweetheart," Steve said and he did look sorry, so I let him sit down next to me.

"Not that we aren't excited to hear about this," said Sam, "because we really are. But why are you back early to tell us? Is something wrong?"

"Everything is good with the babies as far as I can tell," I said. Then I pointed at Steve and said, "this husband of mine has been like majorly freaking out anytime I'm not distracting him and I just can't take it anymore. You all need to talk some sense into him before he takes away all of your weapons or alters them to make them non-lethal."

"What?" asked Clint.

"Yeah. He's worried about the babies hurting themselves. So, for instance, your bow is okay, but all of your arrows are going to have to be blunt. And they can't explode or do anything cool anymore."

"Why would the babies be anywhere near my arrows unsupervised?"

"That's what I said." I replied, making confused gestures before turning to Natasha, "and everything of yours is just too lethal, so it all has to go. Especially the bites."

"What about my armor?" Tony asked with a laugh.

"All weapons systems removed, obviously. Though he did seem interested in baby-armor that was self-flying because somehow  _that_  was something that would be safe." I rolled my eyes and when I saw a contemplative look in Tony's eyes, I pointed my finger at him and said, "no! Not happening! The babies will not be in any kind of armor! I feel like I really shouldn't have to say that! They are babies. They will wear cute, soft baby clothes, and that is it."

Steve chose that moment to start defending his security choices so I wandered over to the windows and looked out for a few minutes. When the debate seemed to be ongoing, I picked up my bag and Steve's then walked to the elevator. Pepper, Darcy, and Jane, slipped on with the first two taking the bags from me.

"You're being ridiculous, those bags are like twenty times lighter for me than they are for you." Jane just helped Darcy drag Steve's bag between them when the door opened. I did a double-take. "Uh, this isn't our floor."

We were in a short hallway with no lounge and just one door.

"Yes it is," Pepper said, "you've remodeled. You now have one big suite with a couple extra bedrooms for guests. Though I guess we'll actually need to rethink the floorplan and at the very least turn one into a nursery now."

We wandered around the "new" suite, and Pepper pointed out the highlights. I thanked her before grabbing us all a bottle of water and sitting with them in the living room.

"So, he's been like that since you told him?" Jane asked with a little bit of humor in her voice.

"Oh, no. The first night he was so sweet and happy and excited. Then he had a nightmare, and he did okay the next day. The second night though, he had a nightmare again about not being able to save me and the babies, and that's when that all started. We talked about how we needed to tell you all and the security teams ASAP just in case. Then I mentioned I wouldn't be able to go in the field, and he said I'd work the Command Center. That made sense. Then he started talking about needing to make the Command Center bomb proof just in case someone set up for them to get called out as a distraction and it all went downhill from there. Anytime I didn't have him… otherwise occupied… he was pretty much in that state. And I figured at this stage it was my safety he's freaking out about, so I wasn't going to be the one to talk him down. He's crazy if he thinks I'm getting rid of my daggers though."

"Oh, he didn't!" Darcy gasped. I just nodded my head before kicking my feet up and relaxing back.

"So," I asked, "how's everyone here been doing the past couple days? And how's the media coverage?"

We spent the next hour just chatting about everything that had been going on until Pepper had to run off for a meeting. Then Darcy and Jane helped me unpack the bags, though for all their fuss about me not lifting anything, neither of them was willing to pick up Steve's shield when they realized it had been in his bag all along. Once that was done, we wandered back downstairs, and I poked around in the kitchen looking for something suitable to eat.

Bruce walked in and gently guided me away from my poking. He set some fruit and whole wheat crackers in front of me then started puttering around. I took a seat at the breakfast bar and watched curiously as he started making what looked like a cross between nachos and a pizza. He started talking about the nutrients that were in the different ingredients he was choosing and why they were important for me during pregnancy, and I'll admit, I didn't pay attention.

When he paused long enough to look over to see if I was paying attention and realized I clearly wasn't I just shrugged apologetically and said, "you should probably repeat all of that to Steve once he's done freaking out. He's a much better target for that lecture. Anything I eat is something that someone already cooked or else it is definitely processed." Bruce winced at that, but I totally owned that fact. "I will try to pick up a piece of fruit and eat it with every snack or meal."

Just then I felt Steve's arms come around me from behind, and he kissed the top of my head. "What does Bruce need to tell me now that I'm done freaking out?" I'd finished my snack, and Bruce began his lecture over again, so I just leaned fully back into Steve and closed my eyes. When I woke up, I figured I must have fallen asleep, and Steve had moved me to the couch. I looked around to see a plate of food in front of me and most of the Merry Men now gathered in the common room and all of my Avengers family suspiciously absent. I stretched and sat up asking, "what's up?"

"Why don't you tell us, Babe? We were summoned here because you had something to tell us, and when we got here, you were alone and asleep. We've just been waiting for you."

"Huh. Well, I guess I'll just tell you then, I assume that's what Steve wanted. At any rate, remember how in January I got kidnapped and stabbed?"

"We remember, Darlin'," Woody drawled, "vividly."

"And you know how it made me permanently infertile?" All the guys remained stone faced but shifted a little uncomfortable. I rolled my eyes and said, "it's fine. I know you know."

"So?" Tank finally asked.

"Okay, well, at any rate, it turns out the doctors were wrong. Super serum to the rescue and all that. And we didn't know that so... surprise! I'm pregnant!" Cal just full-on passed out as soon as he processed what I said, and I put a hand over my mouth and started giggling and said, "he didn't even make it to the best part. Someone wake him up."

Thankfully no one had to, as he woke up on his own. I waited until he looked like all the cylinders he had were firing before looking at him excitedly and adding, "oh, and it's twins!"

When he passed out again, I started cackling with glee holding onto my sides.

Tanks lips twitched and he said, "that was just mean, Little Girl."

I slowly pulled myself together, and everyone was just watching me warily. "Yeah, I'm not kidding," I said. "JARVIS, if you would."

Once again the ultrasound video was playing on the TV and after a moment's hesitation, the men started cheering and rushing me with hugs and congratulations. Apparently, the rest of the team had been waiting for that, because they came down the stairs then and Steve got a bunch of handshakes and backslaps and everyone started chattering excitedly.

When Steve picked me up from the armchair in which I was seated and settled back down with me in his lap, I tilted my head back to kiss him on the chin.

"You're really all done freaking out?" I asked.

"For now."

"Good because you're not taking away my daggers." I said nuzzling into him more. Then I added, "dibs on the next freak out."


	36. Taking Precautions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I'm having an annoying little day and I'm cranky. "Why should I care?" you ask... you shouldn't, but you are getting this chapter today because I feel like it and hope it might cheer anyone else who is having an annoying day up.

 

_**Darcy's POV** _

Clint, Natasha and I were sprawled on the two couches by the TV, passing popcorn around, and watching the drama unfold in front of us over by the kitchen. In our defense, we'd been planning to watch a movie and already had the popcorn made when they'd wandered downstairs and it had started. We just hadn't left to give them privacy because, I mean, public place and we'd gotten there first anyway.

The elevator chimed discreetly and Bucky stepped out, taking in everything that was happening before he exited, as was his habit. He quickly walked over to the couch I had all to myself, picked me up, and slid himself under me before settling me back on top of him. I propped my chin up on him, enjoying the more comfortable position, and idly passed him the popcorn.

"What's going on?" he whispered.

"It's like roadkill, you can't not look." Clint whispered back.

"Your boy is an idiot, Barnes," Natasha added.

Bucky looked down at me and raised his eyebrows, clearly looking for more information. Sighing because of the distraction I quickly said, "You know how Steph started showing and the media has picked it up and started running with it."

It was true. While we all felt like managing to not show even the slightest bit until 16 weeks with super-twins was quite the accomplishment, the media didn't have that information and was not being at all kind in their speculation. Pepper and I had argued that things would be easier if they just went out and made the announcement instead of refusing to comment either way. Then again, I know Steph was still nervous about the pregnancy, so I could understand their hesitation. In a moment of serious conversation just the week before, she had confided in me that she was afraid it would "go away" if they did make the public announcement. Meanwhile, Cap was Pissed Off, with a capital P and a capital O, about some of the things that were being said about Steph.

Bucky frowned giving his opinion on the matter nonverbally before saying, "yeah."

"And you know how it is driving Cap nuts."

He snorted at the understatement there, "yeah."

"And you know how it doesn't bother Steph? And not in a 'she pretends it doesn't bother her because she knows it shouldn't but really it does anyway' kind of way but she just legit doesn't give a fuck because she's so happy to be pregnant."

That brought a smile out of Bucky because he was a sucker for the two of them as well, and he said, "yep."

"Well, Steve apparently decided it really did bother her, and they needed a weekend away from it all and well, like Natasha said, he's an idiot."

In that moment, Steph cried out, "HAVE YOU LOOKED AT ME LATELY?!"

Steve looked her over from head to toe before saying, "you look beautiful."

Natasha and I winced, and of course my boyfriend who could sometimes be just as dense as Steve about modern women asked, "what?"

"Never look, man. It's always a trap, if they're asking about their appearance, they look beautiful without even an instant of hesitation," Clint explained in a whisper.

Steve turned to us in exasperation and said, "we can hear you, you know that right?"

"Don't let us stop you," I gestured to them with a smile, "Bucky's all caught up now. We'll keep it down."

Steve sighed then turned back to Steph who said, "Clint's right, by the way, so you're lucky I already know you don't find my pregnant body repulsive and that, as Darcy pointed out, I don't care. But that's not the point! I don't want to go camping!"

Bucky started laughing at that, having missed the start of the argument, and Clint, Natasha, and I tried valiantly not to join him. Really, we did. Still, we couldn't help it and all collapsed into laughter at Steve's expense. Steve and Steph both gave up any pretense that their discussion was private and walked over.

"Punk, you really are such an idiot," Bucky gasped out.

"I figured if we're out in the middle of nowhere, then there's no media, nothing to intrude. We can just relax and enjoy ourselves," Steve defended.

"Steve, she's uncomfortable like all the time. You know this; you can tell just by the way she moves even when she doesn't complain about. You've told me this, and you're always giving her massages to help out with wherever she's the most sore each day."

Steve rubbed his neck as she said, "yeah, so?"

"So?! Camping is uncomfortable!" Natasha cried out. "You want her to sleep on the ground?"

"Not to mention she's all off-balance and stuff these days," I added, "and peeing outside is hard enough when you're a girl and you don't have to deal with that."

Natasha reached out as far as she could, and I did the same with Bucky anchoring me so I could get my fistbump. Fistbumps from one of the spies were always things to be celebrated and definitely not missed.

Steve sat down and put his head in his hands, "you're right. I'm sorry, Steph. I didn't think about the logistics of it, I just wanted us to get a break."

Natasha and Clint shared a look, but before Natasha could open her mouth and say whatever it was they'd decided on, Bucky spoke up, "I got you covered, Punk. You need a quiet place to stay for a few days, and I have somewhere you can go. I'll take you both there whenever you want. Leave all your electronics here. There's a TV with a DVD player, but no phone, cable or Internet, so raid Darcy's stash of DVDs and stock up. If there's a call out that you're needed for, I'll bring the team to come get you, otherwise I'm the only one who knows where you are."

Steve inclined his head in gratitude, and Steph perked up quite a bit. "And there's a bed and indoor plumbing, right?"

Bucky laughed and said, "yes, Steph. I'll even make sure it has food in it for two super soldiers, one of whom is eating for two baby super soldiers."

"I'm not a super soldier; I was never a soldier. I'm just a super individual," Steph said seriously.

Steve finally chuckled at that, and I said, "while we're on the touchy subject. Would you both please think about allowing Pepper and I to draft a statement announcing the pregnancy. We can release it when you're on your way out of town, and the fervor should die down before you get back, provided you're gone for a couple days."

The couple exchanged a look, and Steph blew out a breath, inclining her head in agreement. Steve's face lit up, and I could tell he was eager to be able to publicly play the Proud Papa. I took out my phone and typed out a message to Pepper before we all settled in to watch the movie.

Later that night, I settled in to sleep with Bucky's human arm wrapped around me, and I whispered, "that's really nice what you're doing for them."

"Hmmm?"

"For Steph and Steve. Taking them to one of your little hidey-holes for a getaway. That's really nice of you."

"Keep a secret?"

"Of course I will."

"I'm not just taking them for a visit. I'm giving it to them."

"What?"

"I don't know how Steve partnered with Natasha for so long and didn't learn really any of her most important spy survival skills, but we figured out when we all moved in that he didn't have any bolt holes. I kept meaning to talk to him about it, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. So I found them a place. Although I still think it would be best if they got some that no one else knows about. Maybe each at least one the other doesn't know about."

"Why would they need that? They can trust the team, and especially you."

"How much do you know about what happened with Clint and Loki?"

"Oh." I trailed off because I'd been able to piece pretty much everything together, and yeah, that was an absolutely horrible and yet completely valid concern.

Actually, now that I thought about it, I had virtually no living expenses, but Pepper had included an outrageous signing bonus in my contract that had just been sitting and earning interest. And if I chose my location well, housing was like dirt cheap. Of course, I had absolutely no clue how one would even go about setting up a situation like that. I felt Bucky sigh under me before he said, "I have some really bad people after me, Darce. You know that. We've talked about how dangerous that is for you, and if I'm the one they grab, you definitely need to run. Can you get your hands on the cash for it?"

"Yes."

With that I was treated to a very, very long lecture about how to create enough confusion in my accounts to make the money I took relatively untraceable. Or at least difficult to trace if I spread it out properly. Then I was taught all about different types of properties and how to create anonymous shell corporations under which to buy them.

When I woke up the next morning, Bucky was gone, apparently off to take Steph and Steve to their hideaway, and Natasha was sitting in a chair watching me sleep.

Slapping a hand over my heart I gasped out, "don't do that!"

"I should not have been able to sneak up on you like that."

"I was asleep! In the most secure building in the world, that even has the dopest AI known to man. JARVIS would have alerted me to an intruder who wanted to do more than see if she could get me to have a heart attack first thing in the morning."

"I would, Darcy," JARVIS intoned. But before I could celebrate the victory of my logic, he continued, "as long as I was able to. However, if the Tower had been infiltrated and I was somehow taken offline, I would be unable to do so."

"But how likely is that to happen?"

"Not very," JARVIS conceded. "However how often do you see the unlikely happen- especially in your work with the doctors."

Okay he totally had me there, so I turned back to Natasha. "Fine. Now I assume you wanted more than just to lecture me?"

"Barnes is worried that you, like Steph and Steve, have not taken appropriate precautions considering your involvement in a global espionage organization. Of course, that is not your fault. It is our fault for not training you appropriately. Now Bucky tells me you have some money stashed away that you are willing to put towards this, which is good. You need more than one bolt hole though. We are going to work together to use your money to make the first. Then you are going to take this," at which point she indicated to a bag I hadn't seen at her feet, "and create as many as you can and want to with it, including identities. No one, not even me, is to know about those."

"Nat, I can't take your money."

"Who said it was mine? Let's just say that when SHIELD fell, I won the race to several stockpiles. There is plenty where it came from, so don't you worry about that."

"Darcy," JARVIS interrupted, and once again I wanted to hug Steph for getting him to call me that, "Pepper would like to come in."

"Sure, J-Man!"

Without a word, Pepper walked in with a large duffle bag. She gave me her Don't-Fuck-With-Me-Just-Do-What-I-Say face, which was usually reserved for Tony, dropped the bag on the floor next to the bed I was still on, and walked back out.

When I turned to Natasha to complain, she had the same freaking look on her face. I think that was the first time I really felt sorry for Tony and the time he'd spent under the thumbs of both Natasha and Pepper when Natasha was undercover at SI. So I just shut my mouth and relaxed a little when Natasha gave me an approving nod. She threw clothes on the bed and walked out, so I figured that meant we would be doing this right that moment, so I got dressed quickly. I took a moment to look in both bags and holy shitballs, that was a LOT of money in a LOT of currencies in Tasha's bag, and a fuck load of money in Pepper's bag. Without a word, I picked both bags up, and took them to my rooms.

This time when I walked back out and found Natasha lounging against the wall directly across the door from me, I wasn't at all surprised. She turned on her heel and walked to the elevator, so I sighed and followed, desperately hoping that breakfast was somewhere on her agenda.

_**Steph's POV** _

When Bucky told us that he was giving us his hideout as a baby-present, I'd been speechless. While I'd expected Steve to try to refuse, I understood when he accepted the bond between the two men a little more. Even though he had gotten better about it, I knew Steve was still freaked out about the safety of the children and I. Bucky knew it too, and he was providing Steve a little piece of mind. We spent most of our time there relaxing, but some of the time we spent pulling together supplies for the twins in case we did have to come back on the run at some point.

My surprise grew, however, when Bucky picked us up and dropped us off at a seemingly random coffee shop three hours away in, I wasn't even sure what state because we'd taken the Quinjet after a two hour car ride to get to it. He just shoved us through the door then turned around and walked away, quickly disappearing into the crowd. Sitting at a table waiting for us with a coffee for Steve and a tea for me was Clint.

"Tasha's busy doing this with Darcy at a more beginner level than I think either of you two need, but know this is from the two of us." I was always surprised by Clint's ability to slip between his playful personality and a scary as all hell professional at the flip of a switch, and he was all professional that day. He took us to another secret house and left us there for two days to make the place our own. The pattern continued with Clint delivering us to Bruce, and Bruce delivering us to Tony of all people. Tony was frighteningly no-nonsense the whole time as well.

When Tony had finished with us, I was surprised when he dropped me off alone and took an unhappy looking Steve with him reassuring him that I'd be fine even though we'd turned off our JARVIS trackers before leaving the Tower the first day. I walked into what was actually a tea shop this time to find Maria Hill sitting there. This time there was no pretending, I was surprised. Sure, we lived in the same building, and she was dating Sam, who I was close with, but after I'd stopped training with her, Hill had become probably the person in the Avengers family I was least close with. Though, I still thought of her as family, so I really shouldn't have been surprised.

I sat down with a smile, accepting the tea she'd poured for me. She finally spoke, "you need a place Cap doesn't know about. In case he's taken."

"Hill, Maria, you know he'd never."

"If he could help it, he wouldn't. But his free will was taken away from him, and he gave up your location, and something happened to you and the kids, he'd never forgive himself. Don't put that on him. You're going to take this place from me, and you are going to keep it from everyone else, including Steve. And when we're done you are going to take the cash that I've left there. No, don't you make that face, some of it is from me, but the others chipped in as well. And so did some anonymous but COMPLETELY trustworthy sources."

"Steve and I have have money, we can afford to do this for ourselves," I tried to protest, but Maria just continued as if I hadn't spoken.

"So you are going to take that money, and you are going to go. You will use everything we have taught you about altering your appearance to make sure you aren't recognized. You have four weeks during which time you will create as many aliases and as many safe places as you can, while taking care of those babies. When you get back, you will tell no one where you have been. No souvenirs. No postcards. No references to anything you may have seen, no matter how mundane it seems. And you will get checked up by the doc because everyone is going to be concerned despite Banner's insistence that it is perfectly fine for you to travel by any and all means of transportation and that your pregnancy is completely healthy. Then you will go about your day to day life as though nothing happened and you'd been in the Tower all along. With the money, there is a panic button. You will carry this on your person the entire time that you are gone, and you will push it if you need to. If that happens, even if you've already set up a secure location wherever you are, that location is burned and dead to you. JARVIS is turned off, however, if he needs to reach you, he can turn your communicator back on and will contact you. Wherever you are when that happens, that location would also be burned. You will be back in the tower by noon on July 4th or so help me God. Because Cap is not going to like the fact that you're out there alone for this long, and he's going to hate us for sending you off like this. And if you don't get back on time, he is going to burn down the entire world trying to find you. The rest of us will also be seriously pissed off once we get you back because he will never trust us again. Do you understand? Noon, July 4th, and not one day sooner unless something goes wrong."

I thought about everything she'd said for several minutes. I didn't like the idea of being on my own right now. I felt vulnerable, but I knew I could take care of myself if I needed to and that everyone was right, this was necessary. And now was the time to do it, not once I really couldn't move well enough to defend myself if necessary, and not when I'd have to leave the babies. Finally I nodded slowly, and said, "We'll start routing some money around and stashing it for the kids every month. When they're old enough…"

Maria gave me such a sad, resigned look but she nodded her head, "I'll talk to the others. We'll find a way to make it a game, but yes, we'll make sure they have places to go that you don't know about."

My eyes welled up with tears, but I nodded my head and said, "thanks."

We finished the pot of tea in front of us before slowly making our way to a quaint, three bedroom house in the countryside. We sat in the driveway with the car running, and Maria told me the name of the town we were in and the street we were on. Reaching over the console, I pulled her into a hug.

"Seriously, take care of yourself and the twins, Steph," she whispered.

"I will. And tell everyone thank you. And someone please, make sure that Ranger and my Dad know I'm okay? I'll see you at noon, July 4th, at the Tower."


	37. July 4

_**Steve's POV** _

Thump. Thump. Thump. That was all I could hear and all I could focus on, the sound of my fists hitting the punching bag. In the logical corner of my mind, I understood why my team had sent Steph away and respect them for having the guts to do so before it was too late to be safe. But that was just one small corner of my mind. The rest of it was filled with fury and rage at them for sending away my pregnant wife with no protection. Yes, she was a full member of the team. And yes, she was more than capable of taking care of herself.

But there was a part of me, call it primitive, call it old fashioned, call it whatever the fuck you wanted, that could not handle having her be out of range of my protection. Even knowing that she was due back on a particular day and that not hearing from her was a good thing had not helped my state of mind. I'd been given a very similar speech to what I was pretty sure Steph had been given to convince her to go, but no way had I waited to get back until they'd told me I could come back. I'd gone for one week. One week with about six hours of sleep total until I'd set up a dozen safe houses for myself and my family. Then I'd come back to the Tower because if Steph's panic button went off, I was going to be there to bring her home.

During the time between when I'd gotten back and July 4th, I'd had to go out on one Assemble call because we'd needed everyone we'd had. Frankly, the Hulk hadn't done the most damage to that HYDRA facility that day, I had. After that, the team had decided to temporarily remove me from the active duty list if at all possible. So the other two call-outs, which had been relatively minor, I'd stayed and worked the command center.

Oddly, my relationship with Steph's Merry Men had gotten stronger during that time. I was being a bear, I knew it, the team knew it, everyone with any kind of clearance to interact with me on a daily basis knew it. Probably because they didn't have a leg to stand on countering it beyond saying that it was necessary, the team didn't hold it against me when I didn't really want to spend my time with them. Even Bucky let me mope without too much chiding, which I would probably feel bad about later because he'd had to let Darcy off on her own to do the same and Darcy had even less training than Steph in all things covert. But then again, Darcy wasn't pregnant. At least not as far as any of us knew, so Bucky really couldn't relate and he knew it.

The first time I'd been unable to fall asleep for worry about Steph and the babies, I'd gone down to the gym. After about twenty minutes, Woody had shown up, and just set himself up going through a run on the treadmill followed by a lengthy strength training workout. Eventually, Ram had appeared and he and Woody had sparred. Once they finished, Woody left, and Ram went through his workout session. Every night for the past three weeks, if I'd shown up in the gym, at least one of those men had also appeared.

One week in, it had been Ranger's turn, and I'd finally spoken.

"Did Sam put you guys up to this?"

"No. We aren't exactly speaking with your team right now any more than is necessary to do the jobs we were hired to do."

I grunted, but didn't say anything more, and we'd worked out in silence for another hour. When Ranger was done with his sparring session with Tank, he stopped next to the punching bag long enough to say, "Steph would kill us if we let anything happen to you while she was gone." Then he'd just walked out.

Knowing he was right, I'd forced myself to take slightly better care of myself after that. I made sure not to miss meals, and through sheer force of will, I got at least three hours of sleep every night. That was around the time Darcy had reappeared, and it seemed she'd transferred herself from scientist wrangler to Steve wrangler for the remaining two weeks. And no one questioned it. She'd just come by several times a day chattering and making sure I was doing okay by whatever her standards were.

Until July 3rd. Once we'd hit the 24 hour countdown, I set up permanent residence in the gym, and everyone had pretty much let me. I didn't sleep that night, just kept focusing on my bags. Because the moment I stopped, all I could think about was the possibility of Steph not showing up. So I didn't stop until I felt a small hand on my arm.

Looking over I saw Darcy's concerned face.

"Cap, it's 11:30. Get cleaned up for her, please?"

I didn't say anything, just spun on my heel and walked to the staircase. In some sort of trance, I wandered into our suite and made my way into the shower. By the time I finished showering, the bathroom was filled with steam. I grabbed a towel, dried off a little, and stepped out of the shower and froze.

Perched on the counter was Steph, she looked nervous as she licked her lips and said, "sorry, I'm fifteen minutes early, but I just couldn't stay away any longer."

"Oh thank god," I muttered rushing over to her and pulling her into a kiss and wrapping her firmly in my arms. "I missed you so, so much, Steph. So much!" Steph matched the fervor of my kiss for several minutes before upping the heat even more. Somehow, seated on the counter, she was still in complete control, and before I knew it, she had my towel shoved out of the way and I was surrounded by her heat. She didn't last more than a couple of thrusts before orgasming around me and taking me with her.

When we caught our breaths, I stepped back and helped her off the counter so she could clean up. As she did so, I couldn't help but run my arms, and my hands, over her body counting the numerous ways it had changed while she'd been gone.

"Sorry for jumping you like that, but I swear, I woke up three days ago and did not think I was going to make it until today. Somebody somewhere flipped a pregnancy hormone switch and I  _needed_  you in a way I never have before. Oh God," she moaned, "I still do."

At that comment, I pulled her up into my arms and carried her back to our bed for the next couple hours. Finally sated, we lay in bed naked. I slid down on the bed to Steph's belly, which while it had just been a hint of a belly before we'd left the Tower, was definitely making its presence known.

"Hi there, babies. I missed you both too; I hope you've been treating Mommy right. I'm so glad to see you growing to big and healthy."

I laid there for a couple minutes more, talking to the twins and stroking Steph's belly while she ran her fingers through my hair until Steph's stomach started grumbling. Chuckling to myself because some things never change, I stood and pulled on some sweats and a tank top. Steph struggled to find clothes that would fit before finally taking a pair of my sweatpants and one of my shirts and pulling them on.

I paused for just a minute and said, "you're okay. Everything was okay?" Her eyes met mine, and I could see the regret at leaving me here to worry, so I dropped a gentle kiss on her lips and said, "it's fine. You needed to do that while you could. I just want to know that you're okay.

"I'm fine, the three of us are fine. We missed you like crazy, though, and we're glad to be home."

"I'm glad you're home."

_**Steph's POV** _

Hand-in-hand, Steve and I walked down the stairs to the common floor. I was curious to see how everyone would react and if we'd really pretend that nothing had happened like Maria had said we would. The reality ended up being somewhere in the middle. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, I was greeted by enthusiastic hugs from all. No one asked where I had been, simply said that they were happy to see me and asked how I was feeling. Steve stepped away and grabbed me a granola bar, which I ate quickly while answering their questions.

"I've been feeling generally really good- some trouble sleeping and some forgetfulness, just over the last couple days on that one thankfully. Otherwise, I've been feeling really good, especially this past week."

As I settled into a chair, Bruce wheeled in an ultrasound machine and said, "We have an appointment schedule for you on Monday with your doctor, but if you want, I figured we could take a look since I know everyone was at least a little worried about the two little ones."

I looked over at Steve, not sure if he wanted everyone around for this, and he just looked at me pleading. "Well, since I was instructed not to bring anything back with me, and I have no birthday gift for him, I'll let the Birthday Boy decide."

"Trust me, you coming home was all the birthday gift I need," Steve said with a kiss for me. "But, that being said, if you're okay with it, yes please!"

"Are you wearing Steve's clothes?" Pepper asked while I got comfortable on one of the couches and everyone crowded around.

"Yeah, nothing that is here fits."

"Good thing I made you a special something for the party then," Tony said.

"Party?" I asked.

"Of course! It's Cap's birthday, the country's birthday,  _and_  we're the Avengers. There has to be a party or people will talk." Tony said, "And yes, this is a mandatory attendance party. With uniforms for all who have them."

I laughed, "Tony, there is no way my uniform fits right now."

"What did I just say. I made you one that will fit, and believe me, getting that ballistic material with our electricity upgrades to also be stretchy was no easy feat."

"You made me a maternity combat uniform?"

Everyone had kind of turned to gape at Tony. "Well, obviously we don't want you to go into combat if it is avoidable. But people expect us to be in uniform at these events when possible, and I figured, might as well have you in something bulletproof just in case right? Not like you aren't known to draw trouble, and that Mario clown is still out there!"

"Huh, okay. Well if it fits without making me look like a whale, then fine. I don't want pants though, let me tell you, I discovered on my way home today that hauling two babies around in this gross humid heat is not my favorite activity. And I'm not even that big yet!"

I hissed out a breath when Bruce squirted the cold gel on my stomach waving him off when he apologized.

"You guys want to know the genders if possible, right? Otherwise I'll try to avoid certain angles."

I looked over at Steve who said, "yes, please."

Bruce started moving the wand around and JARVIS projected the image on the screen. "Oh, they look like actual babies now!" I cried enthusiastically.

I got several amused looks at that, but I just shrugged because it was true. There was some degree of awe on pretty much everyone's faces as they took in the sight on the screen in front of us. I shifted a little to get more comfortable, and when I did, one of the babies shifted too, which got a lot of smiles.

"Everything looks really good, Steph. Two heartbeats in the perfectly healthy range, they look like they're a good size, nothing to be worried about. And looks like you're getting a little boy and a little girl!"

There was celebrating around me and Steve gave me a hug, but I was just entranced by the image in front of me. When everyone had cheered, both babies shifted awake and then started moving around a lot.

"Can they hear us?" Darcy asked eagerly.

"I'm not an expert on this, but yeah, given Stephanie's due date, they should be able to hear at least loud noises at this point. Actually, I also brought this so Steve could have some fun."

So saying, he handed Steve a flashlight and told him to shine it on one side of my belly. Steve did as instructed and the closest baby kicked at the light, much to our delight.

"Can you feel that?" Bucky asked me.

"Yeah, it was weird when I first started feeling them. I wasn't sure what it was. Once they got coordinated enough to do kicks like that though, it was pretty clear. Still, it's neat to see it at the same time as I'm feeling it."

The other baby seemed to sense that the first wasn't happy when Steve shined the light in the same spot again and got the same reaction, and reached out toward it with it's arms.

"Awwwwww," Pepper cooed out.

"Do it to the other one!" Tony said with glee. Steve chuckled, but did as he was instructed, and we watched as that baby chose to punch at the light rather than kick it.

"That has to be the coolest thing I've ever seen," Darcy said in wonder.

"I'm glad I didn't know about that, or I would have been carrying a flashlight around with me everywhere," I said with a laugh. "Once I realized they were moving, I just did this if I wanted them to move." I poked at my belly, and it had a similar effect.

"Enjoy it while it still feels fun," Bruce said sagely, "when they get stronger, and you know those two will, and you start running out of space in there, my understanding is it gets less fun and a lot more… uncomfortable."

"Party pooper!" I teased, with a smile to let him know I didn't really mind. Then when Bruce handed me a wipe, I cleaned up and smiled out at everyone, "so, when does this party start?"

Apparently the answer was that the party had already started and we were late, so my comment caused quite the scramble. Tony walked to a coat closet and pulled out a couple uniforms for me, telling me which one he thought was going to fit me the best at the moment and handing Steve some extra pairs of boots just in case.

"I'm glad we took some time for ourselves before going downstairs," I told Steve with a smile. "Think you can pencil me in for some more when we get back?"

"Of course, Sweetheart. I'm still not quite over you being gone, so you'll probably be tripping over me at every turn for the near future. At least until you tell me to back off. Even then, I won't be going very far especially before the twins get here."

"A son and a daughter," I said, letting that sink in for the first time. "I know nothing about little boys other than the fact that my friend Mary Lou in Trenton's little boys are hell on wheels and they never stop."

"Good thing we'll have plenty of backup then, huh?" When I got a little off balance, trying to pull on the tight material of the new uniform, Steve stepped over and steadied me.

"You'd think being pregnant would get me out of the spandex," I groaned, but managed to pull it on without too much more difficulty. Steve was standing next to me, in the stars and stripes version of uniform rather than the stealth one, and I checked us out in the mirror. "Is it just me, or am I totally rocking this?"

Steve cleared his throat and adjusted himself before saying, "it's not just you, so let's go. If we stay in here along any longer, I'm going to get seriously side tracked, and someone will come in looking for us."

I walked over to my bedside table and fingered my daggers gently before picking them up and slipping the harness on. Thankfully it just went across my back and over my shoulders, so my increased bust size didn't cause any problems.

"Tell the truth," Steve teased, "what did you miss more, me or those?"

"You, hands down," I said giving him a kiss then pulling him out of the rooms to the stairs and down to the common floor. "But I feel much better having these back, much less vulnerable. Especially since I know I'm starting to slow down a little."

"You know, Stark, if you need another career at some point, you may have a future in maternity design." I said as we reached the bottom of the flight of stairs. As everyone turned to take in the uniform, I did my best attempt of a model walking the runway to the cheers of the team.

"Steph, are you sure you want to wear those shoes?" Bruce asked cautiously.

"I am absolutely certain I do for as long as I reasonably can!" I shot back happily, looking down at my flare boots. "And I'm pretty sure they are like days away from being taboo, so, yes. I will be wearing these today; Steve will make sure I don't fall."

Steve looked like he was thinking about protesting, but when he saw my smile, he just nodded in agreement. For maximum comfort, we were traveling to/from the event in a couple of those SUV limos. As soon as we reached the garage, the Merry Men let up a cheer at seeing me and I was passed around again. When I got to Tank, he let out an exaggerated "oomf" sound as he picked me up and said, "I don't know if I can call you 'Little Girl' anymore, Little Girl."

I punched him in the stomach somewhat playfully, pulling it enough to keep from hurting him, but definitely making sure he felt it. "What was that?" I asked as he straightened back up.

"You look great, Little Girl."

"Damn right I do," I shot back before letting Steve help me into one of the SUVs.

When we arrive at the party, which was located at the American Museum of Natural History, the fervor outside was intense. It was on the same level as our wedding had been, and because it was Steve's birthday and so many of the fans were holding signs wishing him well, we took some time to wander among the fans. Although the day was about patriotism and Steve's birthday, the babies were number one on all of their minds. We received numerous gifts from the fans as we walked through. As the first was handed to me, I wasn't really sure what to do, so I smiled and said thank you as I carefully took it.

"It's fine, just take the gifts, thank the people, and someone from SI will come and pick it up and it will get a full security workup before it is taken into the Tower," Steve whispered softly in my ear.

I did keep hold of a bouquet of flowers one little girl had handed me, unwilling to believe there was anything wrong with it. Over and over, I found myself repeating variations on, "yes, we are very happy, thank you;" "it was a bit of a shock, but we're so excited;" "yes, twins! We are doubly lucky;" and "I feel wonderful, thanks." Eventually someone came up and told us we really needed to move inside, so we did so with endless waves and smiles for the crowd.

Once we stepped inside, things didn't calm down much as the entire entryway had been transformed into a red carpet. We found ourselves posing for pictures together as we walked further along, responding to reporters questions as we went. I saw Jim in the distance, stepping in from outside and smiled at him, taking delight in the friendly wave I received in return.

"There is a party eventually, right?" I whispered to Steve, "With food and the like?"

"Yes, I promise." Steve laughed, then a touch of concern entered his voice as he asked, "Are you hungry?"

"I don't think I've stopped being hungry since the nausea wore off a couple weeks ago," I replied honestly. "I'm pretty sure the babies eat like us."

That got me a chuckle and a comforting rub on the belly that drove the reporters nuts, but Steve managed to move us through the crowd much more quickly after that. Finally reaching the banquet space, we had to then take the time to greet the guests who were between us and our table. When we finally sat down, I saw the empty plates signifying a served meal and who knew when that would start. Steve leaned in to say something comforting, but before he could, a waiter popped up and set a plate of small snacks in front of me. Pepper caught my eye across the way and winked and me, so I smiled my thanks in return.

The rest of the night passed quickly, and when I found myself nodding off, Steve gently guided me out a side exit and we headed home. My first night of sleep back in my husbands arms was, not by coincidence I was sure, the first full night of sleep I got since I'd left him a month before. And when I woke the next morning, I instinctively knew he'd woken hours before, but stayed with me to ensure my comfort as I slept.


	38. Mario

**Chapter 38 - Mario**

_**Steph's POV** _

It had taken a good two weeks after my return for the Tower, for Steve to relax enough to happily allow me outside without his presence. Even then, he was most comfortable if I took a guard and had a well-defined itinerary. I was as sure he only went along with it for my mental health as I was that there were extra guards hiding in the background. Whether those extra guards were his, Natasha's, or Ranger's doing, I'd probably never know, especially since I just pretended they didn't exist.

When I felt up to it, my favorite outing was down the street to the branch of Pino's I'd managed to convince Pino to open by way of fully funding the expansion in return for a share of the profits. Second to Pino's, I enjoyed making runs to the corner market down the street for whatever my odd cravings were- as long as I wasn't feeling to sore or hot to bother. I knew either Steve or JARVIS would happily get anything I wanted for me, but the walking was good for me, and it made me feel useful to provide for myself.

I never left at a scheduled or predictable time, just when the whim struck me. Today I had reached 28 weeks, or the start of the third trimester, and I was still feeling good, so I wanted to celebrate with my good friends Ben & Jerry. I'd taken a morning walk already, but still had extra energy, so I went out again, something anyone watching me would know I almost never did. Which is why I found it extra surprising when I felt the blade of a knife in my back in the market.

"Buddy, you really don't know how bad of a day you're having now. I really think you want to just turn around and leave," I warned slowly, knowing that Woody would have hit his panic button and drawn on my would-be captor already.

"Oh, believe me, Bounty Hunter Bitch, I've been waiting for this day for months now. Years even. Ever since I saw you with Benito the first time and found out that he wasn't good enough to keep you for himself. That's when I knew I had to take my time, wait for the right opportunity, and take you for myself. I don't care who you think you are now, or who you're married to. You. Are. Mine."

"Hello, Mario. I was wondering if I would run into you before or after the babies were born. Honestly, I had you pegged for after. Didn't think you'd want to bother with the extra hassle of a pregnant woman. That is, if you could stay out of prison long enough to have a good shot at grabbing me."

"I don't care, Bitch. I can still play with you, and I'll just find a way to get rid of them. I know a guy."

Yeah, I was pretty sure I didn't want to know that guy. I met Woody's eyes and saw him practically pleading with me to play cool.

"You got any backup with you?" I asked Mario perkily. "Because the last time someone tried to kidnap me, there were about ten of them, and none of them lived through that day. And I gotta tell you, that was  _without_  me having any backup, which I do here, and I was  _way_  less PISSED OFF about that kidnapping at the time than I am with you right now."

"Steph," I heard softly in my head, knowing that JARVIS had decided to just patch the team straight through rather than playing middleman. It was Clint saying, "I've got him in my sights, and Natasha is making sure there aren't any surprises waiting for us. If you could just try not to antagonize the guy, we'll have you out of this shortly. Then you can punch Stark if you still need a punching bag."

"I am really, really angry right now. Who kidnaps a pregnant woman, especially one who is known to have superpowers?!" I asked wildly, knowing it played into both conversations. Mario would assume I was talking to him, while Clint would also hear me.

"Steph," this time it was Steve, "I'm just as angry as you are right now. But please don't use the electricity unless you absolutely have to. Bruce thinks it would be safe, but he isn't sure. That isn't a risk worth taking unless you absolutely have to."

Just as Steve finished talking, Mario said, "I'm not afraid of you, and you're in no position to make any demands of me. Now, come with me without causing a scene and I'll let you keep those precious babies of yours one more day."

Mario started shoving me toward the door, so I played along. As he was talking about the babies, he placed a hand over my belly, and I had to use every calming technique I knew of. Just before we reached the door, he paused. I could see the entire team, other than Bucky and Natasha, who I had no doubt were outside the back door. In addition to the Avengers, in full uniform, were a heavily armed Merry Men presence, as well as what appeared to be at least the NYPD and their SWAT team. There may have been other law enforcement agencies there as well, but I couldn't tell them apart if there were.

"So, what do you want to do, Mario?" I asked. "You've pretty much run out of options. Let me go, get on the ground with your hands behind your head, and you'll probably live to see tomorrow. Almost anything else you do is almost certainly going to end in your death."

I tried to keep my tone bored and as nonthreatening as possible.

"They're not going to kill me," he said, switching his grips so that his arm was around my neck and the knife was now pointing toward the babies inside of me. "To do so, they'd run the risk of killing Captain America's babies, and no one wants that on their conscience."

I could see Steve with a megaphone getting ready to say something as the knife pushed slowly into me more and more. I felt a slight nick start to form, but before I could say anything else, I felt a really weird sensation from my stomach and then Mario was dropping the knife involuntarily. Taking advantage now that I calculated the risk to be basically zero, I grabbed the arm around my neck, put all of my body weight into it, and sent Mario flying over my shoulder and out the storefront window. Steve rushed forward and had him shackled while Bucky and Natasha burst in through the backdoor and somehow beat Woody to me. They eased me onto the floor even as I was reassuring them that I was fine.

Seconds later Steve rushed up and pulled my shirt up over my belly to take a look at the wound. It quickly healed in front of our eyes, and I was just babbling over and over again, "that wasn't me. I swear, Steve, I didn't do it. I wouldn't run that risk; I knew you were there and would get me out."

Without a word, Steve picked me up in his arms and ran out of the store, ignoring the cheers and the cops yelling questions and had me back at the Tower in record time. JARVIS had the elevator waiting for us, and in almost no time, we were in the medical ward with a concerned Bruce hovering over me.

"JARVIS," I got out, "do we have any video of the end of the incident?"

I managed to hold Bruce off while JARVIS played the video. While my electrical powers usually came out of my hands and branched from there, the video clearly showed two bolts of lightning coming out of my stomach and hitting the knife in question. From all appearances, they'd provided quite the shock to Mario, which is what had made him drop the knife.

"I think it was the twins," I whispered out, and noticed with satisfaction that Bruce seemed to agree and his tension level had decreased upon the realization. Even Steve seemed to calm down a little. I still wasn't spared a full work-up from Bruce, followed by Jemma when she made it onsite, followed by Dr. Chen at the end of the day. When I finally had myself and Steve both convinced that there were no ill-effects of the day's events, I was able to go upstairs, via the elevator and with Steve carrying me, of course.

When Steve stepped out of the elevator with me in his arms, we were greeted with Avengers family and Merry Men alike  _freaking out_.

"Steve, put me down," I said slowly. He did ever so gently, and I walked forward slowly saying, "we're fine. All three of us are fine. Bruce, Jemma, and Dr. Chen have all signed off on me being up and about. I don't even have to do a day of bed-rest or anything. My blood pressure is fine, and all of the tests show the babies are just happy as clams in their little waterbeds right now. He barely nicked me with the knife, and that's fully healed. Plus, JARVIS, can you put up the picture."

I think they were all expecting an ultrasound, but what they got was a freeze-frame image of the twin bolts of lightning shooting out of my uterus and into the knife that threatened them.

"That wasn't me," I crowed happily, and I felt Steve's chest rumble with laughter behind me as his big hands moved back protectively over the bump. Most of the Avengers looked like kids in the candy store with that information, and Pepper just looked resigned to her fate. I understood her perspective because there was no doubt in my mind that untrained babies and toddlers with powers were going to play hell on the Tower and its contents.

Finally Pepper sighed and shrugged, "as long as they're healthy, that's all that matters. And they probably still won't do as much damage as Tony himself has done."

As soon as I'd sat down on the couch, Woody was in front of me handing me the pint of "Late Night Snack" that had started the whole ordeal.

"How'd he get me?" I asked finally.

"Dumb luck," Bucky spat out bitterly. "The guy had been walking past the tower periodically trying to figure out his angle and you just happened to wander past him. It was dumb luck on his part, plain and simple. But he's in custody, and we have numerous witnesses."

Tony cleared his throat, "I've already spoken to the DA, and they have so many witnesses that they expect to settle outside of court. Either way, they probably won't need you specifically to testify. And it is unlikely the defense would call you- that won't end well for Mario."

_**Bruce's POV** _

In my opinion, Steph was freakishly calm about her impending birth. As for myself, I was a nervous wreck! When Mario had attempted to abduct her from the market, I'd had to lock myself in my reinforced room to meditate for several minutes before I could trust myself to go to the medical floor and standby. I'd called Steph's OB-GYN and had her begin working on clearing her day just in case. Then I'd had to go to prep the surgical ward, just in case. I'd forbidden JARVIS from providing me updates until the situation was resolved one way or another and he'd be able to tell me what to expect was incoming.

The situation had worked out as best as we could have reasonably hoped. But seeing Steve walk in with Steph in his arms had still been stressful until she'd made it clear under no uncertain terms that she was fine. Once she'd shown the video, I had to admit, most of my stress had translated into scientific curiosity.

Awful as it was, I still couldn't really get over the desire to study the twins when they were born. Who would they take after? Would they have just Steph's serum, as it was clear they had that in their systems for sure. Or would they have a mixture of both. And what would that mean developmentally? Tony and I had spoken of it briefly, and we both knew these were going to be babies then children, and not science experiments. But we were still eager to get to watch and see what happened, and assist wherever we were able.

When Steph hit 32 weeks, I managed to convince Coulson and his team to come work from the Tower, leaving Jemma behind and available to Steph and I as much as was possible without hindering their mission. Steph had an OB-GYN, but in extenuating circumstances, she might have to rely on those of us who were inside the Tower to assist her. With that in mind, Jemma had both put ourselves through formal midwife training as well as some more extensive medical courses. Dr. Chen had even let us observe some of her deliveries, and arranged for her colleagues to do so as well.

One by one, I'd taken aside each of the Avengers and coached them through signs of labor, when Steph would need medical assistance, and a whole host of possible scenarios. Steve had been just as nervous, so he'd asked about a million questions with Bucky and Natasha running a close second at half a million each. Still, as each week wore on, Steph slowed down even more and became less inclined to leave their suite. She'd worked with Pepper to create a nursery, and more often than not when one of us was looking for her, JARVIS would inform us that she was sitting in the nursery, reading to the babies or just relaxing. She seemed impressively at peace as the countdown to her due date got closer to zero.

_**Bucky's POV** _

When we'd hired on Ranger and his men, Steph had let me in on one of their secrets. Someone who was caught behaving poorly or contrary to Ranger's personal code of ethics would meet Ranger "on the mats". Generally it would be a sparring session, but as Ranger and Tank were the best, if you were put on the mats with one of them, you were going to get beat and it would be seen as some sort of attitude adjustment.

In the aftermath of Mario getting so close to Steph, there had been a rash of people on the Security Team feeling guilty. So I'd worked out a schedule. Everyone sparred with everyone else, so there were multiple opportunities for each man to get his head on straight. And I hadn't fought with any of them because that wouldn't be fair, but I'd made sure they'd seen me spar with Steve and Thor to know that I didn't think I was faultless either.

Then we'd gone through all our security protocols again, collaboratively, with each man and every member of the Avengers team throwing out ideas for how they would try to get around the system to get in or to a member of the team if they wanted to. Thankfully, Steph had agreed that she wouldn't be leaving the Tower again unless there were truly extenuating circumstances until after the birth. Not knowing what would happen with Steph's powers when she went into labor, Tony and Bruce had taken out her standard implant and promised to replace it with one that would be shielded to withstand her EMPs in the future.

JARVIS had agreed to monitor Steph on a higher level than usual and would, of course, alert the team if anything was amiss with her vitals or surroundings at any time. For some reason, being kidnapped seemed to have a weirdly calming effect on Steph. When I asked her, she said it was knowing that Mario was in prison and all of the specific threats against her were currently eliminated since her kidnapping had only gone to enough of a dead end that we assumed she'd killed the entire threat. I didn't know if it was that or some kind of hormone thing, but she wasn't going stir-crazy staying indoors as we'd worried she might. Instead she seemed to accept and even embrace the situation.

Steve, on the other hand, was back to being a nervous wreck. He went to their suite every night, and I was reasonably sure that he held Steph through the night, but I wasn't convinced that he was getting more than a couple hours of sleep at best. Bruce had actually managed to convince Steve to start meditating with him a couple times each day, which was extremely out of character. Not that I could blame him because I was freaked out too. This was, for all intents and purposes, my sister-in-law, and I'd never seen someone close to me go through pregnancy and labor.

Finally when she hit 34 weeks, I gave up and joined Steve and Bruce with the mediating. The next day, Clint, Natasha, and Darcy were there. The following day Sam and Tony joined. Thor never did, and I think it was because he was as freakishly carefree about the situation as Steph. He tried to reassure us that Heimdall was keeping a close eye and would send assistance if it was necessary, but that really didn't help us at all. In fact, if anything I know it made me feel like there  _was_  reason to be concerned.

One day when we were waiting outside the studio for Bruce to arrive and the session to start, I finally asked Steve, "what are you so worried about?"

"You saw what the babies did to that knife Mario had on her, right?"

"Yeah, that was pretty cool. I can't wait until they're big enough to train. Those kids are going to be more deadly than Natasha when they grow up." At his pointed look I added, "if they want to be."

"So, what I'm worrying about, especially since it isn't like they can give Steph sedatives, is what happens if something goes wrong and they need to take the babies out through surgery. Those babies might not let the doctors cut her open. I could lose all three of them if that happens."

I'd heard Bruce approach, and figured Steve had as well, so neither of us were surprised when Bruce said, "is that what has you so screwed up, Steve?" Steve just hung his head and nodded, so Bruce got right in his face, "there's some stuff I developed. Now that we're sure the babies have at least Steph's serum, I feel extra confident it would be safe to use. It would slow her heart rate, and the babies', way down. But we'd just give them enough to get in, so it shouldn't provide lasting damage and the serum will filter it out quickly. We have every reason to think that the babies will be just fine and she'll be able to have a non-surgical delivery, but if we  _do_  need to intervene, I also feel confident we can do so safely."

So saying, he smacked Steve on the shoulder and guided us into the studio for another meditation session. This time when we were done, Steve seemed to have actually relaxed. When we saw him the next morning, he looked like he had really slept, and seeing him less panicked seemed to have a soothing effect on the rest of the Tower inhabitants. Except for Steph because she'd been blissfully happy the whole time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, friends. Just one more chapter and an epilogue. But I've already got something started to follow this (not an actual follow up story, just a next story).


	39. Hello, Babies!

**Chapter 39 - Hello, babies!**

_**Steve's POV** _

We had been seeing the doctor every week since Steph's third trimester had begun and the event with Mario had occurred. Dr. Chen had repeatedly reminded us that twins were usually born early and it was unlikely that Steph would carry all the way to 40 weeks. At 36 weeks, we'd been told that the babies had turned so both were head down, and had dropped lower in Steph's pelvis, indicating that birth was probably going to be soon. Then again, that wasn't necessarily true.

At Steph's insistence, I was still spending a decent amount of my day on Avengers business- either in the gym or in various meetings to go over intelligence and leads. It just so happened that I was sitting in one of these meetings about halfway through week 37 when JARVIS interrupted Ranger mid-sentence.

"Excuse me, Captain Rogers?"

Everyone in the room- the rest of the Avengers team, Ranger and his men, Happy, and some other SI staff- froze. Interruptions from JARVIS were almost never a good sign and everyone knew we were on baby watch. "Yes, JARVIS." I forced myself to sound calm, but accidentally snapped the pencil I was holding in half.

"My monitoring has shown that Mrs. Rogers has been in labor for approximately the past four hours, but she has been sitting in the nursery and insisting that it is early in the process and you not be interrupted. However, her water broke a short time ago and it seems her contractions are becoming much more regular. I believe she should be taken to the medical floor at once."

Not waiting for him to finish, I rushed out of the room and hit the staircase at a full run. I could hear soft music playing in the nursery as soon as I entered our suite, so I schooled myself into a walk. Popping my head into the nursery, I saw Steph, apparently having changed already, sitting in one of the soft wrap dresses she'd been favoring the last few days. Casually I leaned against the door, and when she looked up at me, I smiled and said, "so, what do you say we go have some babies?"

"I think that would be good, and I also think I'm going to need some help to get down there."

"Well, it just so happens, I'm here to help." When I got to her and reached down to pick her up, she held out a finger for me to wait. As I heard her doing some deep breathing, I pressed a kiss to her forehead and stroked her back until she was done. "Can I pick you up now?"

"Yes, please. Bonus points for getting me to the delivery room within the next, oh, say six minutes."

"Five minutes," JARVIS cut in.

"Tattletale," Steph said, but she did so with a smile, so I just gave her another kiss as we walked up to the elevator. The doors opened, and I found Bucky, Darcy, Natasha, and Clint all lounging against the walls clearly waiting for us.

"Did you get your meeting done?"

Natasha smiled at her and responded, "close enough. How do you feel?"

"Well, my body is trying to push two very large objects out, so… not feeling my best right at this moment. And there aren't any happy drugs waiting for me."

Darcy leaned over to Bucky and said not at all quietly, "I am so not ever doing that."

I stifled a laugh, and the elevator doors opened to the hospital allowing me to step out and not be involved in  _that_  conversation. For the next ten hours, we all did our best to keep Steph's mind off her situation and the increasingly frequent and painful contractions. Tony had, without making a fuss, taken the time to research the best labor and delivery equipment, including some cutting edge monitors that were allowing Steph free movement throughout the room and the entire medical ward, despite being pregnant with twins and needing monitoring. As often as she was able, she was up and walking around. A couple times she even took Darcy and Natasha with her to give me a break

As we hit hour ten, Steph panted out after a contraction, "see, I told JARVIS there was no need to hurry."

I just ran a hand over her brow and said, "there was no reason to risk it though."

Everyone was in what Steph had termed the "above the head" zone while Dr. Chen checked on her progress again. With a smile and a pat on the knee for Steph, Dr. Chen said, "well, time for phase two! Everything is still looking great, so I want you to start pushing whenever it feels right, okay?" When Steph nodded enthusiastically, Dr. Chen looked at the group gathered around us. "Obviously there's plenty of room, so it's up to you Steph, who stays and who goes?"

"Anyone who wants to stay can stay." She turned a very serious look to the team and said, "You're free to move around the room at will, but if you stay and especially if you go below the head, you will  _never_  speak of  _anything_  you may see. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Bucky responded apparently for the group. Most of the men scooted a little further back from her head, but Thor with his never-ending enthusiasm moved even closer. I was grateful that Steph and Bruce had both made me watch a fair number of delivery videos, so I had some ideas of what to expect.

"Okay, we've talked about this Sweetheart, what position do you want to start with? Listen to yourself, you know how to do this, okay?" I encouraged.

For most of the first hour, she was on her knees, leaning against the head of the bed or in a chair. When she wanted to switch positions again. Gently I helped her into a different sitting position, but it was pretty immediately discarded.

"Please, Doc, tell me I can squat."

"Sure, we can do that, especially since you've got such a strong partner here. Let's try an assisted squat first so that I get more room to work, okay?"

Following their instructions, I was in front of Steph holding her up under the arms as she bore down. She was facing the bed and her front was still covered so that no one waiting up at the front would see more than bargained for. When Dr. Chen told her the first baby was almost there, she started looking around the room wildly. "Bucky?"

Without a second of hesitation, Bucky stepped forward and into her line of sight.

"I'm here Steph, what can I do?"

"Can you take Steve's place for a few minutes? So he can catch the baby?"

I let out a sigh of relief because that was something I really did want to see if possible. "Thanks, Buck," I whispered as we carefully swapped him in. As I knelt down next to the doctor, my hands were shaking. Still I looked up at Steph and smile, "You're doing so well. The first baby is almost here, okay?"

She nodded her head eagerly and I could see her take some deep breaths and gather some more strength. On her next push, I could see the baby's head, so I just told Steph how much progress she was making and encouraged her. The doctor was supporting the baby and helping Steph a little and on the next push, I felt the baby drop down into my hands which stopped shaking as I took in our son's weight.

"We have a son, Sweetheart! It's Nathan Lewis!"

I looked down at him in awe barely registering the choked sound Natasha made and the sob that came out of Darcy. I held him up a little ways so that Steph could see him and reach down and stroke him while the doctor cut the cord and the nurses cleaned him off with warm blankets. Once he was free, I stood up and brought him around in front of Steph with Bucky scooting back a little to keep supporting Steph while giving me room, a look of wonder that I'm sure matched mine on his face. Steph was sobbing hysterically as I carefully slid our son up and held him pressed against her.

For a couple minutes while the doctors worked on Steph and made sure our daughter was doing well, I stroked Steph's hair and pressed kisses to her head while we watched our son. The whole time I whispered reassurances to Steph and told her how strong and amazing she was, aware of the fact that I was crying along with her. When the pediatrician who was on standby stepped forward and Steph started shifting, I looked down at Dr. Chen and asked, "is it our daughter's turn?"

"Yes, and everything looks good."

I took up my spot next to the doctor again, and this time the pushing went even faster. It seemed like no time at all before I was holding my daughter in my hands.

"Here she is, Jamie Samantha!"

We took another bit of bonding time together with our daughter while the doctors took care of Steph and the afterbirth. Before too much longer Steph was settled back on the bed, and she had both of our babies tucked into her gown on her chest. I took some time just to take in the sight of them, knowing I'd remember it and draw it hundreds if not thousands of times throughout our life. Then I edged my hip onto the side of the bed and draped myself along the back of it with one arm behind Steph's neck and my free hand coming up and alternating between our son and daughter stroking them gently.

Natasha stepped forward and whispered, "Good job, Steph," pressing a kiss to her forehead. "We're going to give you all some space to get to know each other, and we'll come back in a few hours. If you need anything, just let JARVIS know."

_**Steph's POV** _

I'd always had a lot of respect for mothers. I'd watched Mary Lou with her boys and their limitless energy, and just been in awe that they could handle it. Now that I had a son and a daughter of my own, I really didn't know how people who didn't have super serum handled it. The fact that I had healed within days was a blessing. And my uterine muscles had contracted back into place much more quickly, thanks to my super healing and breastfeeding. So even though I was in better shape than I had any right to be so soon after birth, the fact that  _I_  was still exhausted meant that I didn't even want to think about what a non-enhanced new mother went through in the weeks immediately following birth.

It seemed like the twins never slept, so we never slept. Except, when I asked JARVIS, he informed me that we did actually get some sleep each day. Somehow, despite that, Dr. Chen declared me "disgustingly healthy" and fully healed just two weeks after the twins' birth. And Bruce and Jemma's tests on the twins' blood had determined that they had pretty much all the serums in their systems and active, so there would be no need for them to get the standard shots and immunizations. We also didn't have to be quite as careful with who they were exposed to. Because I was fully healthy, I'd insisted on resuming my training, and I'd begun pumping whenever I could to build up a stock of breast milk in case I needed to be called out.

So when, a month after giving birth, Natasha and Pepper had coaxed me into a girls' outing, I'd felt comfortable leaving Steve to bond with the twins at his insistence knowing full well that he'd take care of them and that getting out of the suite would be good for me. We went and got the works. Massages, hair, makeup, manicure, and pedicure followed by some shopping for new outfits and some shoes in the slightly larger size my feet had grown into during pregnancy- something that it seemed was going to be permanent.

When we arrived back at the Tower, I found our suite hopping with activity. Steve as dressed up as well, and he had the twins dressed up. They were cradled in his arms, so I walked up and gave Steve a kiss before pressing one to the top of each of their heads.

"We going somewhere?"

"Yep!" Steve said happily, but his tone told me not to ask.

"When did they last eat?" I asked, and then nodded my head in satisfaction when JARVIS supplied the information for me. "So we should be good for a little bit then." Walking over to the diaper bag, I went through it, making sure we had everything I could think of and ignoring Tony's scoff at the idea that Steve didn't already have everything perfectly set up. As he did have everything set up, I supposed Tony had a point, but it made me feel better to check.

I grabbed one of the harnesses and strapped Nathan into it, pressing kisses on him and speaking to him softly until he settled once again.

"How are we getting there?" I asked quietly as Steve strapped Jamie onto his own chest.

"Since you're back early and look like you still have energy, let's walk? It's only a couple miles away."

"Sounds good," I replied, walking into the bedroom and strapping on my daggers. I was grateful to see nods of satisfaction on everyone's faces when they saw me come back armed, rather than looks of surprise or condemnation. Before too much longer, we were out a side door of the Tower with our family surrounding us, and thankfully without too many fans crushing in. Steve held my hand and guided me along, until we were stopped outside of Jackie's studio building.

I raised my brow at Steve and he just shrugged, "we can't keep these two all to ourselves forever, and this way we're jumping the gun faster than anyone expected. Hopefully that means we can start taking them out regularly after this, and not have to worry about getting mobbed by fans who haven't seen them yet. It's her last show before they go off air for the holidays, and I thought we could help her make a splash. If it's okay with you." He looked so uncertain as he cleared his throat, "I'm sorry. I should have asked first."

I twisted my upper body out of the way so that Jamie and Nathan didn't bump into each other as I went up on tip toe to give Steve a kiss. "It's perfect. As long as the lights aren't going to hurt them or anything."

"You don't need to worry about that, Steph." Bruce said, and I turned to see the rest of the team looking equally nervous at my reaction.

I slipped my hand into Steve's and said, "this will be fun; let's do it!"

As soon as we made it to our dressing room, Jackie came barging in. "Oh my God, they've gotten so big. I haven't seen them in ages!"

Watching her I laughed and said, "it's only been two days. Although, unless looks are deceiving me, that was more than enough time for someone here to get engaged. Congratulations!" I pulled her into a side hug and didn't take it at all personally when she got totally distracted by Nathan. After all, I'm pretty sure he and his sister were tied for the title of Cutest Baby in the World.

Apparently Jackie had brought her crew set up early and prepared them for the probability of this episode would take a bit longer than usual to air. With that in mind, and knowing the twins would need at least one break during the filming, we went ahead and got started pretty much right away. As we were introduced, Steve and I walked out with our arms around each others' waists and one baby on each of our chests.

When the crowd finally settled down, Jackie kicked things off. "Well, I have to say, you're both looking well, and like you aren't nearly as tired as I'd expect parents of one month old twins to be. And Steph, you don't look like you had one baby, let alone two!"

I laughed softly and said, "well, we can definitely thank our genetic enhancements for both those things. I feel tired, but I know I'd probably be a zombie at the moment if it wasn't for the fact that I don't need as much sleep as most people. The baby weight is the same thing, I already had a sped up metabolism, and add to that breastfeeding two babies and resuming some of my training, and well, that pretty much melted right off." Someone in the audience yelled out something about me being lucky and I just smiled politely and nodded. "I am very lucky for so many things."

"Alright, so, are you going to introduce us all to these two bundles you guys have with you?"

"Sure," I responded, and carefully pulled Nathan out of the carrier I had him in, grateful when he stayed asleep. "This is our son, Nathan Lewis Rogers, he was born first on October 16."

Steve pulled out Jamie just as carefully and said, "and this is our daughter, Jamie Samantha Rogers, who was born not too long after her brother on October 16." Steve was playing with her hand gently while she slept, and when she reached up in her sleep and wrapped her hand around his finger, Steve got the biggest grin on his face. Of course, this caused a resounding "awwww" from the audience which woke up Jamie. She started crying a little bit, and Nathan woke up and reached out for her.

When I shifted Nathan enough that he could touch his twin, she seemed to calm down instantly. I smiled over at Jackie and said, "that's the coolest thing. They're so bonded with each other already because of the time they spent together in the womb. Apparently it is really common, but it still just amazes me to watch them do things like that."

"So you've mentioned that you've started up your training a bit- are you planning to go back to Avenging?"

I smiled over at Steve and said, "of course I am. I don't see how I couldn't help people when they needed it and try to protect the world."

"We're very lucky though," Steve added, "we have a great support system built into the Tower for us. Our friends and family who live there help out a bunch, and we know we can trust them with the twins if we get called out."

For the rest of the interview, Jackie asked us all the questions that we'd get hounded by the media for anyway which allowed us to answer them in our own time and a space in which we felt comfortable. When the babies fussed, we took a long break so I could nurse them back in the dressing room. While I did so, Steve and the rest of the team did a meet and greet with the audience so that they wouldn't get too bored while Jackie and the Merry Men kept me company.

Woody was cuddling with Jamie when I saw the look in his eye. "Thinking about getting yourself one of those?" I asked him with a wink over at Jackie.

"Maybe sometime, but for now I think I'll just borrow yours whenever I want to. You should have a couple more just so I don't have to share so much."

"What is with all of you people? I just had those two and already everyone is asking for more."

"I think we just made them too cute," Steve said leaning against the doorway and looking in.

I looked over at him and smiled saying, "so we're agreed, next one is ugly so that no one asks for any more after that?"

"Oh, absolutely," he replied with a laugh.

We'd talked about it, and while we did think we'd probably have more down the road, we didn't feel any particular rush. After all, our hands were already full with two, and we wanted to spend some time getting to know them first. Later that night, as we sat in the tower eating dinner, I looked around at our family and smiled. "I'm so happy I found you all," I said to everyone sitting around the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that worked for you all. Just the epilogue, which I'll post on Sunday. Unless the urge to post it before then is just overwhelming.


	40. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to everyone who followed along with this story, especially those who provided me feedback and encouragement along the way. I hope you enjoyed this story, and are happy with the ending. I've already started posting my next multi-chapter story, a continuation of one of my soulmate AU shorts called "How Did You Know I Was There?". It may not be Steph/Steve, but I hope you'll join me for the ride anyway! *hugs*

_**Steph's POV** _

We'd made it through the twins' first holiday with things staying relatively normal. There were a few call-outs here and there, but none that required the whole team to go out. Steve and I took turns whenever possible going out or staying back and helping manage the operation from the control room. So when it took until mid January for the Assemble alarm to go off and JARVIS to tell us we were almost certainly going to need anyone, I was grateful that we'd made it that long.

Steve and I scrambled out of our bed where we'd been trying to enjoy a lazy morning while Pepper took the twins for the morning. At least I'd gotten some action first, so I wasn't as cranky as I could have been pulling on my uniform and watching Steve pull his on. We armed ourselves and then rushed to the Common Room to take the twins upstairs with us. They would remain locked in the control room with the Merry Men and Stark Industries security who weren't brought in to assist us in today's mission.

As we walked in, I took in the monitors in front of me.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

"Sorry, Dollface," Bucky responded, unable to control the faint twitch of his lips. "It looks like whoever made that first drone and batch of enlarged spiders has decided to try out a new batch of them."

I shuddered and pressed a kiss to Jamie's head whispering, "Mommy is only going to do this because she doesn't want you to grow up in a world that has giant mutant spiders."

I passed Jamie off to Hector and then stood next to Steve who said, "alright, what do we know about this batch?"

I felt a little queasy watching them on the monitors, but forced myself to take a deep breath and calm myself. Listening to the plan that was outlined, it was pretty similar to last time. This time, however, as Steve and I approached Central Park from the tower side, Bucky would drop from the jet directly at the machine after the others were dropped off nearby. We were hoping we could shut it down sooner and have to fight fewer spiders than last time.

Steve and I sped into the park on our motorcycles, and this time mine didn't get wrecked by acid venom. At least it hadn't yet, so I was celebrating that small improvement when I hit the first with a bolt of lightning rather than one of my daggers. I paused to watch as it grew even larger in front of me.

"Hey, Thor."

"Yes, Lady Stephanie?"

"Trust me on this one- lightning is bad today."

"Whatever do you," he cut off and there was a pause. Steve looked over and did saw my extra giant spider and actually stopped what he was doing for a second to gape. As he took in the surrounding area and worked his way toward me to help, I heard cursing from Natasha, Sam, and Tony who were with Thor before Thor came back on the communicator. "Yes, I see what you mean. Lightning bad. It is fortuitous that we and our weapons are good for more than just lightning then, isn't it?"

With that the battle resumed, and we managed to keep from making any of them any larger after the first two. Bucky had shut down the machine quickly and joined the battle, so only about an hour elapsed this time. We'd finished our portion of the cleanup and the team was walking Steve and I back over to our bikes when that nausea was suddenly back full-force. I leaned against a tree and lost what felt like everything I'd eaten for a week before I could stand up again and wipe my mouth off on the handkerchief Steve somehow handed me. Because of course Steve carried a handkerchief in his uniform. Freaking boy scout.

We made it a few more steps and I stopped as my body tried to get sick again despite the fact that there was nothing in it anymore. Realizing that my suspicions of the past week might well be true, I leaned my head against the tree in front of me and groaned.

"God damn it, Steve. You son of a bitch!"

His eyes got comically wide and the rest of the team took half a step back as Steve asked, "what did I do?"

"You just couldn't keep your hands to yourself could you?"

I saw Natasha's jaw drop open, but the rest of the men seemed just as clueless as Steve.

"When? This morning? Because I gotta tell you, Sweetheart, you kinda started it."

"Whoa, did not need to know that," Sam said loudly, and I just growled at him and Steve.

Turning back to Steve I said, "I suppose it isn't your hands that are the problem so much as your stupid sperm. They probably have their own little shield that they use to just blast through condoms."

Somehow Steve's eyes managed to get even wider and he looked down at my belly before looking up at me. "But, but."

"Yeah, that's right. If my guess is right here, we're going to have three kids under the age of two less than a year from now! The twins aren't even really going to be toddlers yet, Steve!" I cried beginning to panic.

"Could be four," Tony said thoughtfully and I just looked at him in disbelief before bursting out in tears.

"Okay, well. I think it'd probably be best if Clint and I took these back to the Tower," Natasha said calmly as she walked over to the bikes. "We'll stop at a drugstore on our way, and you all just go back to the Tower."

"No need to stop," Bruce added. "I've got that part covered, though I didn't think I'd be needed them so soon for Steph."

I was still crying uncontrollably, not actually sad but just unable to stop myself, so Steve picked me up and carried me into the jet. Twenty minutes later I was staring at the two pink lines in front of me in disbelief.

"Swear to God, Steve, if there are two in there again this time, I'm going to castrate you."


End file.
